Does Gender matters in correlates of consumption poverty?

Abstract: This paper estimate poverty prevalence of male and female-headed household in Sri Lanka and explores the factors associated with the probability of being poor. Data from Household Income and Expenditure survey 2016, which is the national survey conducted by the Department of Census and Statistics, Sri Lanka used for this study. This study employed the marginal effect of the logit model to understand the likelihood of poverty. Household in the bottom quintile of consumption expenditure has been considered as poor while the group of individual, household and spatial characteristics considered as explanatory variables. The study found that poverty prevalence is high among male-headed household than female-headed household. The results indicate that household size, employment status, income sources and location of residence are significantly associated with the probability of being poor of both male and female-headed household. This paper contributes to the comparison of the experience of gender and poverty in a developing country and seeking better policy formulation based on evidence-based research.