Vulnerability of female heads of household and its policy implications in Iran

The importance of female heads of households in providing the basic needs of household members on the one hand and the limitations they face in most socio-economic fields have made it necessary to pay attention to the issues of female heads of households in most societies including our country. The purpose of this study is to use the systematic review method to review and evaluate the policy proposals that have been proposed in Iran for women heads of households. A total of 296 articles and 5 reports were identified. In the review and eligibility phase, the total number of selected texts was considered to be 79 texts, of which 62 studies used the quantitative method and 17 studies used the qualitative method. Based on the studies that proposed policy proposals, the characteristics of female heads of the household, the axes of vulnerability, the evaluation of policies and proposals were determined. The findings showed that more policy proposals were made based on the characteristics of low literacy, being unemployed, and being middle-aged. Based on the axes of vulnerability, women heads of households are more vulnerable psychologically and socially than they are materially vulnerable in many cases. The evaluation of policies for women heads of households showed that the most interventions for the empowerment of women heads of households were focused on the economic field and were mainly pursued in the form of financial payments and did not pay enough attention to other aspects of women's empowerment, while the empowerment of women heads of households was successful when It is expected to simultaneously pay attention to their mental health and improve their social and economic status.