Migration is a selective process which encourages certain section of the community to involve morernthan the others. Gender is known to be one of the selective criteria of migration for a long time.rnMigration streams that are predominantly male or female have implications for the organization ofrngender roles in both communities of origin and destination.rnAlthough rural-urban migration is dominated by women nationally in Ethiopia, the feature of outrnmigration from certain parts of the country has been largely men's affair. Little is known how thernlivelihood of women is affected in the long run when their counterparts migrate out and the formerrnassume the virtual headship of their households' in Ethiopia. This study is therefore, intended to assessrnhow women cope up in the absence of their husbands and support their family and identify the majorrnsocioeconomic and institutional factors that influence their effort to improve their livelihood.rnThe result of the study indicates that male-out migration has greatly affected the livelihood of thernwomen who are left behind. The labor gap created due to the absence of male head has negativelyrnaffected the agricultural production and the natural resource conservation activity in the study atea. Thernwork burden of the women has increased due to their high involvement in domestic and outdoorrnactivities.rnMoreover, access of women to Agricultural Extension Service, inputs and credit is constrained by lackrnof conhÂ·ol over household resource and the male-biased agricultural extension orientation. To therndismay of most women remittance from most migrants is also found to be very low, irregular andrnunreliable.rnThus, to improve the lives of de facto women heads by mitigating the social, economic and culturalrnbarriers which hinder their effort to win a decent livelihood, certain recommendation, gleaned out fromrnthis study are suggested.