The Effect of "Women's Empowerment" on Child Nutritional Status in Pakistan.

Awaisra Shafiq,Jinsoo Hwang,Shahida Kanwel,Muhammad Asif,Abid Hussain,Arif Jameel

doi:10.3390/ijerph16224499

Abstract

Women’s empowerment in terms of both involvements in employment activities and with decision-making about household activities is the most evident factors that can affect the nutritional and health status of their children. This paper investigates the effect of women’s empowerment (WE) on children’s nutritional (CN) status in Pakistan. The Pakistan demographic health survey (PDHS 2012-13) cross-sectional data was used to analyze the impacts of WE on child malnutrition. The composite index of anthropometric failure (CIAF) was used as a dependent variable to measure the children’s nutritional status, and the wealth index household size. The number of children in a house and indicators of women empowerment, which included the mother’s education, employment status, and the household decision-making, were used as the independent variables. The method of binary logistic regression with marginal effects was used for the empirical analysis of the results. The results of the study showed the indicators of women’s empowerment, such as the education of the mother and employment status had a negative relationship with child malnutrition. Women’s decision-making about the visits to family, which is an indicator of WE, had an insignificant effect on CN. Similarly, socioeconomic status, which included the wealth index, also caused a reduction in child malnutrition. In addition, an increase in household size had a positive and significant relation to child malnutrition. Women are the primary caretakers of children in the household, and their intra-household dynamics affect the well-being of individuals. The empowerment of women acts as a means to enhance children’s nutritional status, which causes important developmental outcomes.

Highlights

The survival of children, which is due to the exceedance of a proper nutritional status, is influenced by the interactions at the household level
The results presented are based on the analysis of the 2012-13 Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey [8]
Frequency shows the distribution of each categorical variables (Composite index of anthropometric failure (CIAF), Mother’s education, Women’s employment, WI, and Decision-making about visits to family or relatives) and continuous variables

Summary

Introduction

The survival of children, which is due to the exceedance of a proper nutritional status, is influenced by the interactions at the household level. Empowerment plays an important role in most of the aspects of the peoples’ lives [1,2]. In this regard, Chipili et al [3] argued that the empowerment of women is highly associated with positive child nutritional status. The implications of malnutrition at an early adult age are permanent. It is considered that if malnutrition occurs before a child is two years old or during pregnancy, the result will be a permanent problem regarding the child’s mental and physical. Public Health 2019, 16, 4499; doi:10.3390/ijerph16224499 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph

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