Disempowered Mothers Have Undernourished Children: How Strong Is the Intrinsic Agency?

Abstract

ObjectiveUndernutrition is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality among under-five children, particularly in low-and-middle-income countries. Since women, including mothers, are the primary caregivers of their children, their empowerment status can inherently influence children's nutritional status. Empowerment is, mainly, an intrinsic agency developed as an affective domain trajectory or attitude that guides the skill or behavior. This study aimed to assess the association between women's empowerment and nutritional status of their children.MethodsA cross-sectional study was carried out among 300 mothers having children aged 6–59 month in rural municipalities of Kaski district in Nepal. Face to face interview and various anthropometric measurements were used to collect data. Chi-square test was performed to assess the association between women's empowerment and children's nutritional status, and multivariable logistic regression was used to assess the strength of association.ResultsOf 300 mothers having 6–59 months' children, nearly half (49%) were highly empowered while around 38% children were in poor nutritional status. More than one-fourth (26.7%) children were stunted, 7% were wasted, 17.7% were underweight, and in overall, nearly 38% were in poor nutrition. There was a five-fold increase in odds of wasting, thirty-fold increase in odds of stunting, and twenty-nine-fold increase in odds of underweight among children whose mothers had low empowerment status compared to their counterparts.ConclusionOverall, this study exhibited that maternal empowerment strongly affected children's nutritional status, especially stunting and underweight. Thus, intrinsic factor, mainly education and community membership are suggested to empower them for making their own decisions. Interventions aiming to improve nutritional status of children should include women empowerment incorporating dimensions of material resources. Further empirical evidence is required from trials and cohort studies.

Is maternal autonomy associated with child nutritional status? Evidence from a cross-sectional study in India

“…In Pakistan, mothers’ higher levels of education and employment status enable them to directly engage in household decision-making and buy high-quality dietary food for children, which is positively related to the nutritional status of children [ 23 ]. Similarly, a cross-sectional study from the rural Kaski district of Nepal documented that intrinsic factors such as maternal education and community membership associated with maternal empowerment reduced the likelihood of having underweight and stunted children [ 28 ]. In Bangladesh, Rahman et al [ 26 ] found that mothers’ participation in household decision-making is associated with lower odds of childhood malnutrition.…”

Exploring Future Research Agenda for Rural Mother’s Empowerment: A Study at the Intersection of Bibliometric and Systematic Literature Review

“…In addition, some of the factors related to the socio-cultural belief system of the society are also taken as the determinant factors for women's empowerment, such as traditional and religious belief systems (Alatinga et al, 2021) and notions about the transactional sex (Wamoyi et al, 2011). Furthermore, indices such as Women's Empowerment Index (WEI), Abridged Women's Empowerment in Nutrition Index (A-WENI), Women's Empowerment in the Agricultural Index (WEAI), Abbreviated Women's Empowerment in the Agricultural Index (A-WEAI) and Project-level Women's Empowerment in the Agricultural Index (Pro-WEAI) are also used to measure the empowerment of women (Bonis-Profumo et al, 2022;Cunningham et al, 2015;Kirkwood et al, 2021;Poudel et al, 2022;Saha & Narayanan, 2022).…”

“…The nutritional status of children is conceptualized in terms of children's dietary diversity (CDD) (Badiane et al, 2021;Bonis-Profumo et al, 2022;Cunningham et al, 2019;Egbuonyet al, 2021). However, weight for age (Imai et al, 2014) and height for age (Badiane et al, 2021;Cunningham et al, 2015Cunningham et al, , 2019Debela et al, 2021;Imai et al, 2014;Tome et al, 2021), wasting (Tonguet-Papucci et al, 2015), stunting of children (Poudel et al, 2022;Rabaoarisoa et al, 2017) and body composition of children measured as fat-free mass (Badiane et al, 2021) are also indicators. Finally, we proceed to the broader theme for impact assessment related to maternal and child health, including clusters 4 and 5.…”

“…Furthermore, indices such as Women’s Empowerment Index (WEI), Abridged Women’s Empowerment in Nutrition Index (A-WENI), Women’s Empowerment in the Agricultural Index (WEAI), Abbreviated Women’s Empowerment in the Agricultural Index (A-WEAI) and Project-level Women’s Empowerment in the Agricultural Index (Pro-WEAI) are also used to measure the empowerment of women (Bonis-Profumo et al, 2022; Cunningham et al, 2015; Kirkwood et al, 2021; Poudel et al, 2022; Saha & Narayanan, 2022).…”

“…Women’s empowerment is not restricted to any particular research domain. The notion transcends knowledge boundaries, resulting in a recent debate regarding the multidimensional measurement of the concept (Bonis-Profumo et al, 2022; Cunningham et al, 2015; Kirkwood et al, 2021; Poudel et al, 2022; Saha & Narayanan, 2022). Focusing on mothers’ empowerment may provide future research avenues that may also pertain to the growth and development of children.…”