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
household head Palau re-defining the household
head using wage and salary income traditional
definition a closer look at head and
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 assistance 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
dictates that the oldest or highest ranking male
will be the head of the household Matrilineal
societies (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,
independent 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-sampling
errors DEAL WITH MAJOR PROBLEMS National
Statistics 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
projection information is available from
http//www.spc.int/sdp