Household Headship and Women’s Health: An Exploratory Study from Egypt

Background: Despite of the efforts done to achieve women’s empowerment as one of the 17
Sustainable Development Goals, women still suffer from unequal access to education besides
several illnesses contributing to chronic diseases development. Women Headed Families
(WHF) are a major concern nowadays as it can be considered as a risk factor for many
morbidities and social problems. Therefore, this study was conducted to draw attention to the
uprising vulnerability trend of WHF. Objectives: to compare the socio-demographic
characteristics and pattern of morbidities between females heading families and those who do
not. Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted at Met-Rahena Village in Egypt. A
purposive sample of 886 females were interviewed. The questionnaire included questions
about education, work status, and several morbidities. Data was analyzed using SPSS 20.0.
The Chi-square or Fisher Exact tests were used to analyze the association between variables.
Results: The mean age of the females heading a family was (47.3) years, which was
significantly higher than the mean age of females not heading a family (36.1) years. The
studied types of morbidities appeared to be represented higher in the group of females
heading a family than in the other group, namely; hypertension, diabetes mellitus, GIT
diseases, ophthalmological problems and musculoskeletal disorders (p <0.05). Conclusion
and Recommendation: As the health status of women heading families is not desirable, so
there is a great need for effective interventions directed to this vulnerable group to improve
their quality of life.