Investigating the well-being of rural women in South Africa.

Abstract

In this Focus piece we explore differences in the well-being of men and women in rural and urban areas. We use quantitative data from a nationally representative household survey in 2008 to measure income poverty and access to services in the households that men and women live in. In addition, we complement this analysis with a range of subjective measures of well-being collected in the survey, which allow us to identify differences in the lived experiences of men and women within their households. We find that, according to both the objective and subjective measures of well-being that we explore, African women living in rural areas are the most disadvantaged group in South Africa.