Does land possession among working women empower them and improve their child health: A study based on National Family Health Survey-4

Abstract

• Result found that land ownership neither empowers women nor improves child health. • Women’s education level and household’s wealth determine women’s empowerment and improve child’s health. • It is not economic development, per se, that is important, rather the context of economic development. Does land ownership empower women? Does this empowerment help in improving their child’s health? Limited scholarship is available to directly understand the dynamics of land possession and empowerment from women’s perspectives concerning the child’s health. Women’s control over land can be a good argument to put up the case of women’s economic security and bargaining power, which in turn may have powerful consequences on their child’s health. When women own the household resources, it does more good to the family's children than when the resources are in the hands of men of the family. On these lines, this study is an attempt to explore the land ownership among women in rural India and its association with their empowerment and their child’s health. The women's empowerment is measured by decision-making in the household, and child’s health is measured through stunting. Utilizing recent data from National Family Health Survey-IV (2015–16), 22,779 married women were selected to carry out the analysis. We utilize percent distributions and cross-tabulations for the descriptive analysis and logistic regression analysis to show the relationship between different covariates and empowerment and child health. Result found that land ownership neither empowers women nor improves their child’s health. Other factors like the nature of the job, women’s education level, household wealth are important in determining women's empowerment and improving child health. Children of highly educated mothers were less likely to be stunted [Odds Ratio (OR): 0.46; Confidence Interval (C.I.) 0.337, 0.639] than children from uneducated mothers. Economic development and women empowerment are closely related. Assuming land ownership as a measure of economic development, this paper is critical in finding that economic development does not necessarily lead to women empowerment. It is not economic development, per se, that is important, rather the context of economic development. The data presented in this article suggests that future studies should further explore the interrelationship of women’s empowerment through land ownership and child’s health in rural India.