Contesting a Third World development category: Female-headed households in Samoa

Abstract

Current global orthodoxy surrounding female headed households (FHHs) in the Third World countrycontextsuggeststhattheyarepoor,isolated,marginalised, disempoweredandlacking inagency.IthasalsobeenarguedthatFHHsinmanyinstancesaresubjecttoneglectbecauseof culturalperceptionsofsingleparenting.Thispositionofprivation,marginalisationandabuseis firmly cemented within a development discourse whereby poverty alleviation and the achievement of the millennium development goals (MDGs) are the accepted development framework supported by many development institutions, non-government organisations (NGOs)anddonors.ThusFHHsmakeanidealtargetforthoseworkingtoalleviate povertyand achieve the MDGs. This is a concern because acceptance of the new poverty agenda in the Pacific generally and in Samoa in particular, is a means whereby certain categories, labels and other such accompanying orthodoxies, such as FHHs as poor, neglected and marginalised may alsogainacceptanceandbecomeentrenched,regardlessofrelevance.Inlightoftheabove,this paper explores cultural perceptions of FHHs in Samoa, and by seeking to understand some of the experiences of Samoan FHHS outside of the global rhetoric it is shown that a development approach where the nexus between FHHs and their socio-political economic and cultural context needs to be established before any conclusions about poverty, disempowerment and marginalisation can be claimed