Income Diversification Among Farming Households Headed by Women in Rural Kenya

Abstract

This article discusses barriers to women’s economic empowerment and opportunities for households headed by women to diversify incomes in the rural parts of Kenya. The study analyzes the full range of income-generating activities at the household level and also accounts for the different types of female-headed households, each of which face different constraints. The findings show that not only do female-headed households diversify and combine their incomes differently than male-headed households but also that there are differences among different groups of female-headed households. HIGHLIGHTS Increasing women’s economic empowerment requires identifying barriers to and facilitators of women’s opportunities to diversify income. In rural Kenya, female-headed households (FHHs) are heterogeneous when it comes to how they diversify their incomes. FHHs in rural Kenya are more reliant on income from transfers than male-headed households. FHHs receive a smaller share of their earned income from the nonagricultural sector. FHHs are more dependent on work on own farm than MHHs. It is important for future research to account for all types of FHHs.