Census Analytical Report - Uganda Bureau of Statistics

Analytical Report10.3 Gender issues in the HouseholdsPolicy analysts have regarded the household as a decision making unit that poolsincomes and allocates resources for consumption. The decision making process ismainly influenced by the household head. The sex of the head tends to influencecharacteristics and decisions of the household. It is thus prudent to study genderdifferentials at the household level. Section 3.1 revealed that most households wereheaded by adult men. No major differentials were noted in household compositionexcept the fact that there were more men heading the households and more womenas spouses. However, gender differentials can often be realized in other aspectsrelating to household characteristics.10.3.1 Household HeadshipOften, households’ compositions are assumed to be the same, comprising of a malehead, his female spouse, their children and relatives. It is also assumed that decisionmakingin the household is often amicably arrived at, to the benefit of all. However,how decisions are arrived at differs, and sometimes not all members’ interests may beserved. The 2002 Census identified the usual head of the household, whether he/shewas present or not. Therefore, the information obtained can not be related to that fromprevious censuses that considered the household head chosen from those who werepresent during the census night.Figure 10.6 shows that 23 percent of the households were headed by females. Thehouseholds headed by females were slightly more common in urban areas (27percent) than in rural areas. In general, female headed households tended to havefewer people than the male headed households as shown in figure 3.1.131