Contextualising Chronic Exclusion: Female‐Headed Households In Semi‐Arid Zimbabwe

A wealth of primary data allows for a presentation and analysis of the characteristics of the persistent economic and social exclusion process as experienced by a group of households which occupies a particularly difficult position in many studies on Third World poverty: female‐headed households in rural Sub‐Saharan Africa. After an introduction, in which attention is drawn to the highly politicised nature of the present‐day debate on poverty, the role of gender relations in deprivation analyses is briefly reviewed. Next, following the presentation of relevant contextual data, the focus shifts to characteristics of marginalisation as experienced in resource‐poor and drought‐prone parts of Zimbabwe. The assessment concentrates on their access to resources, services, income and asset base. It sets out to discuss these aspects from a comparative perspective, i.e. it attempts to compare and contrast the key characteristics of their position with those of female‐managed and male‐headed units. A discussion on the crucial role of social networks for survival of these female‐headed units and their prospects against the background of the deepening political and economic crises forms the conclusion of the paper.