Women’s Empowerment and Nutrition

Women’s Empowerment and Nutrition
Author: Mara van den Bold
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Total Pages: 80
Release: 2013-11-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN:

Many development programs that aim to alleviate poverty and improve investments in human capital consider women’s empowerment a key pathway by which to achieve impact and often target women as their main beneficiaries. Despite this, women’s empowerment dimensions are often not rigorously measured and are at times merely assumed. This paper starts by reflecting on the concept and measurement of women’s empowerment and then reviews some of the structural interventions that aim to influence underlying gender norms in society and eradicate gender discrimination. It then proceeds to review the evidence of the impact of three types of interventions—cash transfer programs, agricultural interventions, and microfinance programs—on women’s empowerment, nutrition, or both. Qualitative evidence on conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs generally points to positive impacts on women’s empowerment, although quantitative research findings are more heterogenous. CCT programs produce mixed results on long-term nutritional status, and very limited evidence exists of their impacts on micronutrient status. The little evidence available on unconditional cash transters (UCT) indicates mixed impacts on women’s empowerment and positive impacts on nutrition; however, recent reviews comparing CCT and UCT programs have found little difference in terms of their effects on stunting and they have found that conditionality is less important than other factors, such as access to healthcare and child age and sex. Evidence of cash transfer program impacts depending on the gender of the transfer recipient or on the conditionality is also mixed, although CCTs with non-health conditionalities seem to have negative impacts on nutritional status. The impacts of programs based on the gender of the transfer recipient show mixed results, but almost no experimental evidence exists of testing gender-differentiated impacts of a single program. Agricultural interventions—specifically home gardening and dairy projects—show mixed impacts on women’s empowerment measures such as time, workload, and control over income; but they demonstrate very little impact on nutrition. Implementation modalities are shown to determine differential impacts in terms of empowerment and nutrition outcomes. With regard to the impact of microfinance on women’s empowerment, evidence is also mixed, although more recent reviews do not find any impact on women’s empowerment. The impact of microfinance on nutritional status is mixed, with no evidence of impact on micronutrient status. Across all three types of programs (cash transfer programs, agricultural interventions, and microfinance programs), very little evidence exists on pathways of impact, and evidence is often biased toward a particular region. The paper ends with a discussion of the findings and remaining evidence gaps and an outline of recommendations for research.

The Importance of Women's Status for Child Nutrition in Developing Countries

The Importance of Women's Status for Child Nutrition in Developing Countries
Author: Lisa C. Smith
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Total Pages: 182
Release: 2003
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0896291340

Until recently the role of women's social status in determining their children's nutritional health went largely unnoticed. That is, until researchers began to ponder the Asian Enigma- the question of why malnutrition is much more prevalent among children in South Asia than in Sub-Saharan Africa, even though South Asia surpasses Sub-Saharan Africa in most of the principal determinants of child nutrition. This report uses data from 36 countries in three developing regions to establish empirically that women's status, defined as women's power relative to men's, is an important determinant of children's nutritional status. It finds that the pathways through which status influences child nutrition and the strength of that influence differ considerably from one region to another. Where women's status is low, this research proves unequivocally that policies to eradicate gender discrimination not only benefit women but also their children.

Nutrition-sensitive agriculture

Nutrition-sensitive agriculture
Author: Ruel, Marie T.
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Total Pages: 80
Release: 2017-10-27
Genre: Political Science
ISBN:

A growing number of governments, donor agencies, and development organizations are committed to supporting nutrition-sensitive agriculture (NSA) to achieve their development goals. Although consensus exists on pathways through which agriculture may influence nutrition-related outcomes, empirical evidence on agriculture’s contribution to nutrition and how it can be enhanced is still weak. This paper reviews recent empirical evidence (since 2014), including findings from impact evaluations of a variety of NSA programs using experimental designs as well as observational studies that document linkages between agriculture, women’s empowerment, and nutrition. It summarizes existing knowledge regarding not only impacts but also pathways, mechanisms, and contextual factors that affect where and how agriculture may improve nutrition outcomes. The paper concludes with reflections on implications for agricultural programs, policies, and investments, and highlights future research priorities.

The Effect of Female Education on the Malnutrition Rate of Children

The Effect of Female Education on the Malnutrition Rate of Children
Author: Samar Dehghan
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
Total Pages: 22
Release: 2017-08-24
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 3668509832

Research Paper (undergraduate) from the year 2007 in the subject Economy - Health Economics, grade: A, University of British Columbia (Vancouver School of Economics), course: Economics 490, language: English, abstract: Mothers play such a big role in raising and nurturing children and shaping their futures. They are essentially the first educators of children. But is this role a significant one? This paper seeks to answer the question: “What is the effect of education of women on the malnutrition rate of children?” If we can prove that education of women has a positive effect on the well-being of children, even small changes in the policies and economic foundations of underdeveloped and developing countries will have a huge impact on the well-being of children and consequently, in the sustenance of government institutions. It can have a substantial impact on the well-being of future generations. In this paper, I will discuss applicable literature on the topic, collect data, analyze the data on a regression model, and discuss the results of my findings.

The Role of Women's Empowerment on Child Nutrition in India

The Role of Women's Empowerment on Child Nutrition in India
Author: Poulami Chatterjee
Publisher:
Total Pages: 52
Release: 2019
Genre:
ISBN:

Child malnutrition remains a pervasive problem in India though there are significant improvements in several health indicators with country's consistent economic growth. Along with other factors, maternal autonomy is considered to be critical in influencing health outcome of a child. This paper attempts to examine the determinants of nutritional measures of children under age five with the focus on the role of mother's autonomy in India. There are many literature which link characteristics of mother, like education, age, with nutrition of her children. But maternal autonomy is a complex subject as this variable is not tangible. Women's autonomy in daily life is more likely to result in their better healthcare which in turn influences children's birth weight and infant nutrition. We used nationally representative India Human Development Survey 2004-05 (IHDS- 1) and 2011-12 (IHDS 2) data for the analysis. Logistic regressions are used to study the effect after controlling for child-specific variables (age, sex), mother-specific variables (age, height, education, age at marriage,), demographic information (caste, religion), household characteristics (wealth, region). We have used the panel data with two waves and used mothers fixed effect model to evaluate the impact of maternal autonomy. A child's height-for-age (stunting) is an indicator of chronic malnutrition. Our sample is restricted to children below five years. Final sample contains 9,389 children below five for which height and weight both are available to calculate Z-score. The autonomy index is created using four dimensions- women's decision making, freedom of movement, financial autonomy and attitude towards domestic violence. Logistic regression models were used to test associations between indicators of female autonomy and the risk of having a stunted child.

Drive for Equal Access

Drive for Equal Access
Author: Sayani Das
Publisher: Partridge Publishing
Total Pages: 179
Release: 2017-01-24
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1482857596

Drive for Equal Access is the proceedings report of 2014 International Womens Week National Symposium, held in Avinashilingam Deemed University for Women, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India. The national symposium questioned and explored five critical objectives: 1. Health & Nutrition; 2. Education & Dropout; 3. Skills & Vocational Training; 4. Science & Technology; 5. Full & Decent Employment. The two-day national level symposium was sponsored by University Grants Commission (UGC), Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), Tamil Nadu State Council for Science and Technology (TNSCST), National Commission for Women (NCW), and Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN). It was an assembly of distinguished gender experts and scholars from diverse fields of interest. Anoop Satpathy, Prof. Binod Khadria, Prof. Chandrika Basu-Majumdar, Dr. G. N. V. Brahmam, Prof. Gouri Srivastava, Prof. Ishita Mukhopadhyay, Dr. Jyoti Sharma, Prof. Karuna Chanana, Prof. Krishna Misra, Dr. M. Vijayalakshmi, Mrs. Madhvi, Dr. Prema Ramachandran, Dr. Rajan Sankar, and Ms. Sonia George voiced on and for different issues of women empowerment in the shared platform. They expressed public opinions and gave action-oriented recommendations from micro-research and case-studies presented by the participants. The book deals with cross-cutting concerns, needs, and opportunities for women in Indian society and addresses womens issues with sensitivity.

Child, Adolescent and Woman Nutrition in India: Public Policies, Programmes and Progress

Child, Adolescent and Woman Nutrition in India: Public Policies, Programmes and Progress
Author: Sheila Chander Vir
Publisher: K W Publishers Pvt Limited
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2023-01-04
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9789394915176

In the last decade, addressing the persistent problem of maternal, infant, young child and adolescent malnutrition in India has gained significant attention. With the well-established serious implications of malnutrition on mortality and morbidity; mental health and cognitive development; activity and productivity and overall economic development, today there is an unprecedented political commitment to improving the grave woman and child nutrition scenario in the country. POSHAN ABHIYAAN (Nutrition Mission) was launched in a Mission mode by the Honourable Prime Minister of India on March 8, 2018, followed by measures for an effective implementation of an integrated nutrition strategy through POSHAN 2.0 in 2022. These developments led to a rapid increase in the interest in the subject of public health nutrition in the country and a higher involvement of various institutions dealing with the subject. The book with 15 chapters tracks history of evolvement of public nutrition policies and strategies, presents an update on the nutrition scenario, analyses the experiences and synthesises emerging lessons in the prevention and control of malnutrition. Additionally, the book includes chapters with details of each of the various government systems such as Health, ICDS, NRLM, PDS, Education/MDM, Water-Sanitation that provide lead in mainstreaming nutrition actions that directly or indirectly impact on accelerating in the improvement of the nutrition situation of Woman, adolescents and children. The book is intended to be an indispensable reference for teachers and students of nutrition, community medicine, public health and development as well as professionals involved in the formulation and implementation of the nutrition policies and programmes.

Improving Child Nutrition Outcomes in India

Improving Child Nutrition Outcomes in India
Author: Monica Das Gupta
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 27
Release: 2005
Genre: Children
ISBN:

"Levels of child malnutrition in India fell only slowly during the 1990s, despite significant economic growth and large public spending on the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) program, of which the major component is supplementary feeding for malnourished children. To unravel this puzzle, the authors assess the program's placement and its outcomes using National Family Health Survey data from 1992 and 1998. They find that program placement is clearly regressive across states. The states with the greatest need for the program - the poor northern states with high levels of child malnutrition and nearly half of India's population - have the lowest program coverage and the lowest budgetary allocations from the central government. Program placement within a state is more progressive: poorer and larger villages have a higher probability of having an ICDS center, as do those with other development programs or community associations. The authors also find little evidence of program impact on child nutrition status in villages with ICDS centers. "--World Bank web site.

Undernutrition in India

Undernutrition in India
Author: Aparajita Chattopadhyay
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 197
Release: 2023-02-27
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9811981825

This book deals with issues related to undernutrition and anaemia in India. It establishes its interconnectedness with poverty, tribal living conditions, contraception usage, dietary diversity, and socioeconomic inequality. It addresses SDG 2, namely “end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture.” It puts forth the linkages between mother's economic empowerment and children's nutritional status, anaemia of women with particular reference to tribal women, and the issues associated with anaemia in India. It also delves into the relationship between contraceptive usage and anaemia level. It explores the proximate and intermediate determinants of undernutrition disaggregated at the state level in India. It elaborates the importance of ensuring food security and suggests policy measures to improve maternal and child health. The book is an asset for all researchers, academicians, clinicians and policy makers dealing with sociology, economics, public policy, social work, population study, gender issues, biostatistics, health, development, and nutrition.