Family structure, gender of the household head and child opportunities in Addis Ababa: an analysis from 1994 Ethiopian census and 2000 Ethiopian DHS data.

In many developing countries, and among those in Ethiopia, gender issue has become an important area of concern in national and sub-national economic development. The aim of this contribution consists in deepening the socio-cultural conditions of women living in Addis Ababa. To reach this purpose this paper examines the structure and the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of the families of Addis Ababa using data deriving from the 1994 Ethiopian Census and 2000 Ethiopian DHS survey. The temporal lag permits to verify the eventual changes between the two dates, even if the different nature of the two sources imply a remarkable caution in the comparison of the results. First of all, we analyse if there are differences according to the sex of the household head, in terms of household assets and facilities. Then, we are interested to verify changes in the family structure in the examined period (1994-2000). Finally, we explore if the sex of the household head influences child opportunities in terms of schooling and then of human capital formation. To deepen the relationships between sex of the head of the household and opportunities of the youngest members of the families, we consider school attendance of the young people aged 10-14 at the two surveys, that in 1994 represent those born at the beginning of the Eighties and in 2000 represent the generations of the second half of the Eighties. Both in 1994 and in 2000, young females result disadvantaged with respect to young males in school enrolment, and this situation is more emphasized in 2000.