A comparison of the socio-economic status of female-headed and male-headed households in Kenya: Use of ordinal logistic regression

Abstract

With the HIV/AIDS epidemic, there is an increase in the number of female-headed households in Kenya. Most of these are living in abject poverty as compared to the male-headed households. For such households, the socio-economic status, which is reflected in the poverty levels, is indeed low. However, in some regions, some male-headed households are equally deprived. Many studies in the recent past have attempted to identify the determinants of poverty in Kenya but did not compare these determinants across female-headed and male-headed households in different regions of Kenya. Such a comparison would point out the disparities, if any, across types of households in the different regions of Kenya. This study has conducted a comparative analysis of the socio-economic status of female-headed and male-headed households in Kenya using an ordinal logistic regression model. The results obtained indicate that education is the key determinant of socio-economic status. Households headed by both male and female heads who have attained tertiary education are more likely to move to the next higher category of wealth index as compared to households headed by male and female heads with no education. However, both female-headed and male-headed households in rural Kenya are less likely to rise up the wealth index categories as compared to the households in urban Kenya. Though more likely to move up the wealth index categories more than other households across the regions, female-headed households in Nairobi are less likely to rise through the wealth index categories as compared to the male-headed households in the same region. The results also show that female-headed as well as male-headed households in Western Kenya and North Eastern Kenya are the least likely to move to the next higher category of wealth index as compared to households in the other regions. Formulation and implementation of proper policies and procedures can address these disparities and improve the socio-economic status of households across the different regions of Kenya.