thus observed differences partly reflect the social and economic challenges associated with single parenthood and not only gender differences as such unctad unece and world bank institute equally differences between male and femaleheaded households represent only one aspect of gender in rural communities the position of female members within households regardless of headship raises significantly different issues and affects much more of the female population however it is important to emphasize that gender roles in agriculture and gender norms more broadly are highly contextspecific the scope for generalization or wider extrapolation of patterns from a small number of countries is therefore limited especially among a group of countries as geographically economically and culturally diverse as ldcs the country examples provided highlight the diversity of national experiences as much as their commonalities