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The educational opportunities for children living with a female head of household in sub-Saharan Africa have been well described, but little is known about how this effect is distributed among all the children living with them. Using 2006 census data for Ouagadougou, this study aims at revisiting the result that children receive a better education in female-headed households in sub-Saharan Africa as well as at examining whether the ability of women plays a role in reducing educational inequalities linked to the gender and family status of children. The results show that living with a female head of household mostly enhances the chances of school participation for fostered boys, while the gender enrolment gap is larger, to the detriment of girls, in households headed by women as compared to those headed by men.