Are Female-Headed Households More Food Insecure? Evidence from Bangladesh

SummaryThis paper uses household and village-level survey data to investigate the food security of male- and female-headed households in Bangladesh with particular attention to indigenous ethnic groups, and finds no significant differences in the food security between these two types of households. The absence of social and cultural restrictions among the indigenous groups permitting their females greater freedom to participate in the labor force coupled with informal redistributive mechanism is attributed to their less food insecurity. This result indicates that noneconomic institutions can significantly impact economic outcomes such as food security.