DOI: 10.36347/sjahss.2016.v04i05.002

Pages: 465-472

This study sought to establish the challenges faced by female heads in search of household livelihoods in Ilima division, Makueni County in Kenya. The changing environment has paused problems that have put pressure on natural resource base. Although Female headed households live alongside male headed households, their dependency burden is higher than that of their male counterparts since livelihood choices are compromised by gender differences. The dependency burden worsens the status of female headed households in rural areas creating concern to the whole society. The female headed households are faced with challenges as they try to cushion their household income. Rational choice theory and sustainable Livelihood Approach model was used to support the study. The study drew a sample of one hundred and fifty five respondents from a population of 1552 using stratified random sampling. Data was collected through interview schedule, and analyzed through descriptive statistics which included percentages, and frequency distribution tables. The results of this study are expected to be beneficial to Government policy makers, to make recommendations on the income diversification strategies on the female headed household livelihoods in the future.