Who is the head of the household

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Who is the head of the household?

• Kim Robertson Human Development Programme,
• Secretariat of the Pacific Community

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Presentation
Background on the SPC, PICTs The misuse of the h
ousehold head Palau re-defining the household h
ead using wage and salary income
traditional definition a closer look at head an
d spouse using all household members
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The Secretariat of the Pacific Community
Pacific regional organisation providing training
and technical assistance from land, marine and
social resources divisions all PICTs are
members (research a new mandate)
Recently moved to joint country programming 5
completed in 2007 refocusing activities on PICT
needs SPC Pacific Womens Bureau providing assist
ance to PICTs to improve use of gender
statistics PRISM regional Internet database www.
spc.int
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Pacific Island Countries and Territories
14 UN countries 1 NZ affiliate (Tokelau) 1 UK
territory 3 US territories 3 French territories

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Mis-use of the household head
Not true head of household more like a
household reference person PICTs culture dicta
tes that the oldest or highest ranking male will
be the head of the household Matrilineal societie
s (2 countries other islands) female heads
normally nominate a male son/relative to manage
affairs outside culture husband or this person
is usually the survey household head
Relationship question not used other than for
household head identification (edited but not
used to derive family structures)
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Palau matrilineal culture
Population around 19,000. Former US territory, i
ndependent since 1994 (Compact of Free
Association Trust Fund, US major donor)
Consists of more than 340 islands, of which only
9 are inhabited (south and north excluded from
HIES because of cost and availability of
administrative and Census data)
Relatively high development in terms of HDI
(GDP per capita around USD6,000, high literacy,
low-ish fertility, high labour force
participation)
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Sex of household head
28 of households headed by females
High proportion of adults in workforce, low
subsistence activity other significant income is
superannuation (social security)
3,838 households have income from wages or
salaries (c. 80) Using wages salaries because
this is related to person number so can analyse
using other variables such are relationship, sex
and so on
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Traditional definition of head
BUT we know there is a high LFPR
Traditional analysis would say that womens
wage and salaries in households they head are 9
lower than males
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Head and spouse definition of income
When head is defined by highest wage salary
income of head and his or her spouse
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All members definition of income
When head is defined by highest wage salary
income of all household members
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All members definition of income
Average household income based on traditional
and all members contribution 40 female headed
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Further work
Final edited data poverty datasets rather
than national accounts datasets
Derive family structures / living arrangements
Relate as many sources of income to household
members as possible Check sampling and non-sampli
ng errors DEAL WITH MAJOR PROBLEMS National Sta
tistics Offices do not have the capacity for this
kind of analysis and are reluctant to release
this data to researchers Womens focal points
probably dont know that this kind of data /
analysis exists
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Pacific Island Country and Territory National
Statistics Offices Internet websites, regional
summary tables (MDGs) can be accessed through
http//www.spc.int/prism Population and projecti
on information is available from
http//www.spc.int/sdp