The Effect of “Women’s Empowerment” on Child Nutritional Status in Pakistan
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Method
2.2. Ethical Considerations
- Stunted (low height for age) only;
- Wasted (low weight for height) only;
- Underweight (low weight for age) only;
- Stunted and wasted;
- Stunted and underweight;
- Wasted and underweight;
- Stunted, wasted, and underweight;
- No failure.
3. Results
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
6. Implications and Future Suggestions
Author Contributions
Funding
Conflicts of Interest
References
- Qing, M.; Asif, M.; Hussain, A.; Jameel, A. Exploring the impact of ethical leadership on job satisfaction and organizational commitment in public sector organizations: The mediating role of psychological empowerment. Rev. Manag. Sci. 2019, 1–28. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Asif, M.; Jameel, A.; Hussain, A.; Hwang, J.; Sahito, N. Linking Transformational Leadership with Nurse-Assessed Adverse Patient Outcomes and the Quality of Care: Assessing the Role of Job Satisfaction and Structural Empowerment. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019, 16, 2381. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [PubMed]
- Chipili, G.; Msuya, J.; Pacific, R.; Majili, S. Women Empowerment and the Nutrition Status of Children Aged Between 6-59 Months. J. Nutr. Health Sci. 2018, 5, 208. [Google Scholar]
- Mohieldin, A. The impact of feeding practices on prevalence of under nutrition among 6-59 months aged children in Khartoum. Sudan. J. Public Health 2010, 5, 151–157. [Google Scholar]
- Folaranmi, O.O. Women empowerment as a determinant of investments in children in selected rural communities in Nigeria. Afr. Res. Rev. 2013, 7, 138–161. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Irena, A.H.; Mwambazi, M.; Mulenga, V. Diarrhea is a major killer of children with severe acute malnutrition admitted to inpatient set-up in Lusaka, Zambia. Nutr. J. 2011, 10, 110. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Siddhanta, A.; Chattopadhyay, A. Role of Women’s Empowerment in Determining Child Stunting in Eastern India and Bangladesh. Soc. Sci. Spectr. 2017, 3, 38–51. [Google Scholar]
- Demographic, P. Health Survey 2012–13. Islamabad and Calverton; National Institute of Population Studies: Islamabad, Pakistan; ICF International: Cambridge, MA, USA, 2013. [Google Scholar]
- Zereyesus, Y.A.; Amanor-Boadu, V.; Ross, K.L.; Shanoyan, A. Does Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Matter for Children’s Health Status? Insights from Northern Ghana. Soc. Indic. Res. 2017, 132, 1265–1280. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Malapit, H.J.; Kadiyala, S.; Quisumbing, A.; Cunningham, K.; Tyagi, P. Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture, Production Diversity, and Nutrition: Evidence from Nepal. 2013. Available online: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm (accessed on 25 April 2018).
- Ebot, J.O. “Girl Power!”: The Relationship between Women’s Autonomy and Children’s Immunization Coverage in Ethiopia. J. Health Popul. Nutr. 2015, 33, 18. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Ibrahim, A.; Tripathi, S.; Kumar, A. The effect of women’s empowerment on child health status: Study on two developing nations. Int. J. Sci. Res. Publ. 2015, 5, 1–8. [Google Scholar]
- Makoka, D. The Impact of Maternal Education on Child Nutrition: Evidence from Malawi, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe; ICF International: Calverton, MD, USA, 2013. [Google Scholar]
- Bose, K.; Mandal, G.C. Proposed new anthropometric indices of childhood undernutrition. Malays. J. Nutr. 2010, 16, 131–136. [Google Scholar]
- Fazili, A.; Mir, A.A.; Pandit, B.; Bhat, I.A.; Rohul, J.; Shamila, H. Nutritional status of school age children (5-14 years) in a rural health block of North India (Kashmir) using WHO Z-score system. Online J. Health Allied Sci. 2012, 11, 1–3. [Google Scholar]
- Gujarati, D.N. Basic Econometrics; Tata McGraw-Hill Education: New York, NY, USA, 2009. [Google Scholar]
- Babatunde, R.O.; Olagunju, F.I.; Fakayode, S.B.; Sola-Ojo, F.E. Prevalence and determinants of malnutrition among under-five children of farming households in Kwara State, Nigeria. J. Agric. Sci. 2011, 3, 173. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Gul, R.; Kibria, Z. Prevalence and predeterminants of malnutrition in children under 3 years of age in the two rural communities of Peshawar. Khyber Med. Univ. J. 2013, 5, 190–194. [Google Scholar]
- Babar, N.F.; Muzaffar, R.; Khan, M.A.; Imdad, S. Impact of socioeconomic factors on nutritional status in primary school children. J. Ayub Med. Coll. Abbottabad 2010, 22, 15–18. [Google Scholar]
- Hirani, S.A.A. Malnutrition in young Pakistani children. J. Ayub Med. Coll. 2012, 24, 150–153. [Google Scholar]
- Ali, S.S.; Karim, N.; Billoo, A.G.; Haider, S.S. Association of literacy of mothers with malnutrition among children under three years of age in rural area of district Malir, Karachi. Children 2005, 9, 10. [Google Scholar]
- Nair, M.; Ohuma, E.; Ariana, P.; Webster, P.; Gray, R. Effect of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act on malnutrition of children aged between 1 and 12 months in Rajasthan, India: A mixed methods study. Lancet 2012, 380, 59. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Mohammed, S.B. Explaining Child Malnutrition in Ethiopia: The Role of Socioeconomic Status and Maternal Health on Nutritional Condition of Children: A Research Paper; International Institute of Social Studies: Kortenaerkade, The Netherlands, 2013. [Google Scholar]
- Rosenzweig, M.R.; Schultz, T.P. Market opportunities, genetic endowments, and intrafamily resource distribution: Child survival in rural India. Am. Econ. Rev. 1982, 72, 803–815. [Google Scholar]
- Jamal, H. Mother’s Empowerment and Child Malnutrition: Evidence from Pakistan; Munich Personal RePEc Archive: Munich, Germany, 2018; Available online: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/87949/ (accessed on 30 April 2018).
- Bhagowalia, P.; Menon, P.; Quisumbing, A.R.; Soundararajan, V. What Dimensions of Women’s Empowerment Matter Most for Child Nutrition? Evidence Using Nationally Representative Data from Bangladesh. 2015. Available online: http://agris.fao.org/agris-search/index.do (accessed on 15 May 2018).
- Raju, D.; D’Souza, R. Child Undernutrition in Pakistan: What do We Know? The World Bank: Washington, DC, USA, 2017. [Google Scholar]
- Achadi, E.; Ahuja, A.; Bendech, M.A.; Bhutta, Z.A.; De-Regil, L.M.; Fanzo, J.; Fracassi, P.; Grummer-Strawn, L.M.; Haddad, L.J.; Hawkes, C. Global Nutrition Report 2016: From Promise to Impact: Ending Malnutrition by 2030; International Food Policy Research Institute: Washington DC, USA, 2016. [Google Scholar]
- Alderman, H.; Garcia, M. Food security and health security: Explaining the levels of nutritional status in Pakistan. Econ. Dev. Cult. Chang. 1994, 42, 485–507. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Headey, D.; Hoddinott, J.; Park, S. Drivers of nutritional change in four South Asian countries: A dynamic observational analysis. Matern. Child Nutr. 2016, 12, 210–218. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [PubMed]
Variable Name | Functional Definition |
---|---|
Dependent Variable | |
CIAF (composite index of anthropometric failure) | 1 if child is malnourished, 0 if child is not malnourished |
Independent Variable | |
MEDU (mother’s education) | 0 = No education, 1 = primary, 2 = secondary, 3 = higher |
MEMPL (women’s employment) | 1 = Yes, 0 = No |
WI (wealth index) | 1 for poorest, 2 for poor, 3 for middle class, 4 for rich, 5 for richest. |
HHS (household size) | Used as continuous variable |
DM (household decision-making about visits to family or relatives) | 1 for only woman, 2 for both woman and man, 3 for only man |
Variables | Category Percentage | Frequency | Mean | St.d |
---|---|---|---|---|
Composite index of anthropometric failure (CIAF) | Not malnourished (No) | 1467 | 0.477 | 0.499 |
Malnourished (Yes) | 1604 | 0.522 | 0.499 | |
Mother’s education | No education | 6722 | 0.571 | 0.494 |
Primary education | 1687 | 0.143 | 0.350 | |
Secondary education | 2077 | 0.176 | 0.381 | |
Higher education | 1277 | 0.108 | 0.311 | |
Women’s employment | Yes | 9483 | 0.190 | 0.392 |
No | 2233 | 0.809 | 0.392 | |
WI (wealth index) | Poorest | 2758 | 0.234 | 0.423 |
Poorer | 2359 | 0.200 | 0.400 | |
Middle income | 2270 | 0.190 | 0.394 | |
Richer | 2196 | 0.186 | 0.389 | |
Richest | 2180 | 0.185 | 0.388 | |
Decision-making about visits to family or relatives | Only woman | 761 | 0.065 | 0.247 |
Man and woman both | 3945 | 0.339 | 0.473 | |
Only man | 3997 | 0.334 | 0.475 | |
Household size | Continuous | 1163 | 9.638 | 5.276 |
No. of children in House | Continuous | 11763 | 2.428 | 1.532 |
Characteristics | Mean | Standard Deviation |
---|---|---|
CIAF | 0.522 | 0.499 |
Mother’s education | 0.822 | 1.072 |
Women’s employment | 0.190 | 0.392 |
Household size | 9.638 | 5.276 |
WI (wealth index) | 2.88 | 1.433 |
Decision-making about visits to family or relatives | 2.831 | 1.110 |
No. of children in House | 2.428 | 1.532 |
Variables | Coefficients | Marginal Effects (dy/dx) |
---|---|---|
Mother’s education (No education, reference category) | ||
Primary | −0.071 | −0.013 |
Secondary | −0.692 | −0.147 |
Higher | −0.633 | −0.126 |
Mothers employment (Not employed, reference category) | ||
Employed | −0.167 | −0.02 |
Household size | ||
0.028 | 0.001 | |
Decision-making about visits to family or relatives(Woman alone, reference category) | ||
Woman and husband both | −0.148 | −0.031 |
Husband alone | −0.302 | −0.058 |
Family elders | −0.263 | −0.057 |
Wealth index (Poorest as a reference category) | ||
Poor | −0.175 | −0.035 |
Middle class | −0.456 | −0.076 |
Rich | −0.674 | −0.128 |
No. of children in house (Continuous variable) | ||
0.013 | 0.0015 | |
Overall significance of the model | ||
Number of observations | 3035 | |
Pseudo R2 | 0.0645 | |
Log likelihood | −1964.8684 |
© 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Share and Cite
Shafiq, A.; Hussain, A.; Asif, M.; Hwang, J.; Jameel, A.; Kanwel, S. The Effect of “Women’s Empowerment” on Child Nutritional Status in Pakistan. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019, 16, 4499. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16224499
Shafiq A, Hussain A, Asif M, Hwang J, Jameel A, Kanwel S. The Effect of “Women’s Empowerment” on Child Nutritional Status in Pakistan. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2019; 16(22):4499. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16224499
Chicago/Turabian StyleShafiq, Awaisra, Abid Hussain, Muhammad Asif, Jinsoo Hwang, Arif Jameel, and Shahida Kanwel. 2019. "The Effect of “Women’s Empowerment” on Child Nutritional Status in Pakistan" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 16, no. 22: 4499. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16224499