while there is considerable debate as to whether households headed by women are overrepresented among the poor chant there is evidence of a strong association between household poverty and sole or primary reliance on female earnings kabeer a chen and others sender research carried out in the aftermath of financial crises in asia and elsewhere confirmed that in the absence of social security provision for informal workers womens paid and unpaid labour helped to sustain their households united nations economic and social commission for asia and the pacific unescap womens access to land and housing has been shown to have important implications for household productivity deere and others katz and chamorro