Complexities of the margin: housing decisions by female householders in Mexico

In this paper I attempt to address complexities that exist in sheltering efforts and housing decisions of household heads among marginal population groups. I try to unfold layers of difference and reveal nuances that exist in housing concerns of low-income household heads, based on gender and age. I deconstruct the categorical grouping of 'the urban poor' as a homogenous population and female-headed households as 'the poorest of the poor'. I show that, as we have to account for gender in the examination of shelter and well being we also have to account for age and household life-cycle position in order to understand the housing concerns of female household heads in their full life cycle, not frozen in time. The questions raised and the issues addressed are grounded in surveys and case studies conducted with low-income household heads in Guadalajara, Mexico.