Based on data collected by the Monthly Employment Survey in August 2006, the IBGE researched a profile of the female which are the heads of the household in which they live:  they represent almost 30% of the female population of the six main metropolitan areas of the country and have an average age of 43.5 years old.   Their income was 11.6% higher than the female employed population.  Half of them lived with their children without the spouse and one among five was a household employee.

The special study of the Monthly Employment Survey of the IBGE showed that, in August of this year, 2.7 million female workers were the head of the household in the total of the six metropolitan surveyed areas (São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, Salvador, Recife and Porto Alegre), a total that represented almost 30% of the female employed population in these locations.

The results of the survey indicate that these women had an average age (43.5 years old) above the one of workers in other household conditions (34.6 years), and had less years of schooling than the employed female  population: the two average years of schooling were 8.7 and 9.5, respectively.

The survey also shows that they worked more weekly hours (39.2 hours) than the employed women (38.7 hours) and the income, although 11.6% higher than the employed female population, still was low: 78.6% of the female workers which were heads of household earned less than 3 minimum wages.  Among the employed women, the percentage corresponded to 81.6%. However, 12.7% of these workers had income equal or above 5 minimum wages, compared to 10.4% of the employed female population.

According to the Monthly Employment Survey, the head of the household is the person which is head in the household unit or that is considered in this way by the other residents. The Monthly Employment Survey observed a major proportion of head of the female population economically-active (28.0%) and employed (29.6%) than of women in active-age (25.4%).

The labor force participation rate of the women heads of household (1)  was 54.2%, above the women labor force participation rate in the same period (49.0%). Also, the level of employment of the women heads of household (2)  (49.8%) was higher than of the employed women  population (42.7%) by 7.1 percentage points.

It is significant the participation of employed women among the economically active heads of household (92.0%), while the participation of unemployed women (3) was 8.0%.  From 2002 to 2006, the number of employed women compared to unemployed women increased (Figure 6).

Salvador has the major percentage of women workers responsible for household

The distribution of women workers heads of household in the metropolitan areas was similar to the geographic distribution of the employed women, standing out the areas of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte, which together answered for 74.1% of the total of the women workers heads of household. Figure 7 shows the distribution of the employed female population and of the women workers heads of household among the metropolitan areas, showing the similarities.

In Salvador it could be observed the most significant participation of employed women (35.7%), similarly to the results of female participation in the total of employed population, according to metropolitan areas.

Among the workers heads of household, 62.9% were in the upper groups of age (5), which means, with 40 years old or more: 33.1% had between 40 and 49 years old; 33.5% had between 25 and 39 years old and only 3.6% were in the younger age groups (10-17 years old and 18-24 years old).

Figure 9

The average age of workers heads of household (43.5 years old) was above the average age of workers in other household situations (34.6 years) and of the employed female population (37.2 years).  The highest estimate was in Rio de Janeiro (Figure 11).

Years of schooling of head is lower

The less degree of schooling of the head workers of households compared to the female employed population can be observed.  The average years of study (8.7) were lower than the one of employed women (9.5 years) and than workers in other household situations (9.9).  The lowest level of schooling of household head workers (compared to the employed female  population) is related to the higher average age, since in the higher age groups the schooling is lower.

The proportion of head workers of households with 11 years or more of schooling (45.2%) was lower than the one of the employed female  population (55.8%).  The percentage of head workers (38.4%) with less than eight years of study, which means that they did not conclude the elementary instruction, was higher than the employed women (27.7%).

Salvador has the major proportion of women workers as head of household with 11 years or more of study (51.6%), and Belo Horizonte, the major percentage of employed women (30.6%) and of workers head of household (44.8%) with less than eight years of study.

The participation of white, black and dark-skinned women (Figure 15) among the heads of household was similar in the last five years.  However, the analysis by areas according to color or race was significantly unequal.   Observing the characteristics by areas of the population according to color or race, the scenario was considerably different in Salvador, Recife and in Porto Alegre.

Half of the workers heads of household lived with children without spouse.

The special study of the Monthly Employment Survey also shows the relative participation of women with spouse; without spouse and with children, and of women living alone in households, among the women heads of household (5).

In August 2006, 50.6% of them lived with children and did not have spouse.  The metropolitan area of Rio de Janeiro stood out with the major participation of women without spouse and with children, and of women alone (Figure 16). Porto Alegre, Recife and Belo Horizonte indicated the major participation of women heads of household without spouse.

Among the women without spouse and with children, 47.1% had at least one child with age less than 15 years old and 28.5% had all the children with less than 15 years old.  The data shows clearly that just one person had to be responsible at the same time for the raising of the children and the household work influencing considerably the options of women regarding work and generating inequality in the labor market.  The highest proportion of women without spouse and with children with age less than 15 years old were observed in Salvador and the lowest, in Recife.

More domestic work and less formal jobs

The workers head of household have a lower degree of formal work than the employed female population: 29.0% of them had a formal contract in the private sector, compared to 35.4% of the employed women. Figure  18 shows that the number of female heads of household in informal jobs is higher (29.8%, being that 10.3% were in the labor market as employees without a formal contract in the private sector and 19.5%, as own account workers) than the employed women. The participation of domestic workers (21.9%) among the heads of household is also higher than the employed female population (18.0%).  It can be observed that besides having low wages, the domestic work has the lowest levels of formality (6).  

Figure 18 shows a heterogeneous distribution by areas of the categories of employment: Salvador, Rio de Janeiro and Recife had the highest levels of informality. Porto Alegre has the major proportion of employees with a formal contract in the private sector and the lowest percentage of  domestic workers, while Belo Horizonte has the highest participation in this employment category. 

Heads of household have more weekly hours of work

In August 2006, the workers heads of household had more weekly hours of work (39.2 hours) than the employed women (38.7 hours). This same scenario was found in all the metropolitan areas investigated, with the exception of Porto Alegre, where the average weekly hours of work of heads of household (39.0) was slightly lower than of employed women (39.2).
Among the heads of household, the youngest (18 to 24 years old) worked more weekly hours (41.1) (7).  The group of 8 to 10 years of schooling registered the major number of weekly hours (40.8). The own account workers, military and public servants and domestic workers have the lowest number of weekly hours of work (36.6; 36.9 and 37.3 hours).  Finally, the activity group with the lowest number of weekly hours of work was education, health, social services, public administration, defense and social security (36.8 hours) (8).

Heads of household earn more 11.6%

In August 2006, 78.6% of the heads of household earned less than 3 minimum wages, compared to 81.6% of the employed women.  Recife had the major part of heads of households earning less than 1 minimum wage per month (31.7%) and São Paulo, the major percentage of them earning 5 or more minimum wages (14.5%).

It can be observed that, in the higher groups of income, the participation of heads of household is higher (12.7%) than of the employed female population (10.4%), a difference that can be verified in the metropolitan areas, especially Rio de Janeiro and Porto Alegre.

Figure 26 shows that the distribution of participation of heads of household according to income groups changed in a similar way as the female employed population: increased the number of those earning less than one minimum wage per month (from 11.2%, in August 2002, to 19.1%, in August 2006), as well as those earning from 1 to less than 3 minimum wages.  There was an opposite trend regarding heads of household with income from 3 to less than 5 minimum wages and, also of those who had income equal or above 5 minimum wages.

The average income usually earned by the head of household (R$ 927.10) was higher by 11.6% than the average income estimated for employed women (R$ 830.87) in the total of the six metropolitan areas. Considering the income per hour, this difference decreases to 10.9%.  In the analysis by areas, the study showed Recife and Salvador with the lowest income per hour obtained by these workers (R$ 4.69 and R$ 5.02, respectively) and São Paulo with the highest (R$ 6.84).  In Rio de Janeiro it could be observed the highest difference between the income per hour of the head of household and the employed female population (22.8%).

Women that live alone earn more

The estimates of the average income and earning per hour worked of households according to the type of family showed the women that live alone in the households with the highest earnings (R$ 1,270.08 or R$ 8.36, respectively).  The heads of household without spouse and with children in residence earned R$ 827.36 or R$ 5.51 per hour worked and the heads  of household with spouse, R$ 867.35 or R$ 6.35 per hour worked.

The study of income according to scholarship of the heads of household confirms the positive influence of education.  Stood out the increase observed in the income per hour among the groups with 8 to 10 years of study (R$ 3.75) and with 11 years or more of study (R$ 10.17), higher than of the employed female population.

Figure 33 compares the household average income (9)  in households whose head were females with the household average income of the employed heads of household population. The average household income where women were the head was lower than the average income estimated for the total of the employed heads of household population, showing that the contribution of the men income in the average household income was higher.

 

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 (1) Proportion of women as head of household in the labor market.

 (2) Proportion of women as head of the household employed, in the total of women as head in active-age.

 (3) The indicator corresponds to the unemployment rate of women as head of household in the total of the six metropolitan areas and was lower than the estimated for the female population (13.0%). 

 (4) The age group from 10 to 17 years old had an insignificant number of women heads of household (less than 0.5%) and, as a consequence, the estimate had a high coefficient of variation.

 (5) The PME studies other types of household arrangements, hence, the results relative to the classification presented in this work do not sum 100.0%.

 (6) According to the study “Profile of household employees in the six metropolitan areas investigated by the Monthly Employment Survey published in April 2006, the domestic work is a job essentially female, more than 90.0% of the workers are women, and approximately 2/3 of them work without a formal contract.

(7) The estimate for the age group 10-17 years old registered a high coefficient of variation.

(8) The estimates for the group Construction had high levels of coefficients of variation, already informed in a previous note.

(9)The sum of the monthly income of residents of a household unit which resulted from work,  excluding persons with less than 10 years old or those whose condition in the household was pensioner, household employee or relative of household employee, were considered to calculate the average monthly household income.