In this special issue a move beyond aggregation, snapshots and easy labels to understand poverty more. The shortcomings of conventional analyses of poverty and the complexities involved in conceptualizing it in a more meaningful way is highlighted. Female-headed households clearly are disadvantaged in many countries. It is largely informed by the narrow way in which well-being is defined and statistics gathered in conventional poverty research, which also ignores the important dimension of agency that allows women heads to offset gender discrimination as well as the foregone income from a male partner. The extent to which risks for maternal mortality are unequally distributed among women from different socioeconomic backgrounds is highlighted. A research of household level data reveals that poverty and maternal mortality are strongly associated, highlighting the need to move beyond country averages when assessing development performance.