Links between Maternal Employment and Child Nutrition in Rural Tanzania

Abstract

Improving child nutrition and empowering women are two important and closely connected development goals. Fostering female employment is often seen as an avenue to serve both these goals, especially if it helps to empower the mothers of undernourished children. However, maternal employment can influence child nutrition through different mechanisms, and the net effect may not necessarily be positive. We develop a theoretical model to show that maternal employment can affect child nutrition through changes in income, intrahousehold bargaining power, and time available for childcare. The links are analyzed empirically using panel data from farm households in rural Tanzania. We find that the links between maternal employment and child height‐for‐age Z‐scores (HAZ) are non‐linear. Off‐farm employment is negatively associated with child HAZ at low levels of labor supply. The association turns positive at higher levels of labor supply and negative again at very high levels. The associations between maternal on‐farm work and child nutrition are weaker and not statistically significant. These findings can help to better design development interventions that foster synergies and avoid potential tradeoffs between female empowerment and child nutrition goals.

Enhancing the Glopan Food Systems Framework by Integrating Gender: Relevance for Women in African Agriculture

“…This finding is also evidenced by the significant number of indicators [36] on women and quality diets. This finding is consistent with the vast literature on maternal and child nutrition and health [38][39][40][41]. The heavy workloads women carry mean that they typically have high nutrient requirements.…”

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“…Analyzing such aspects in more detail is beyond the scope of this study. Another recent study with data from Tanzania showed that female off-farm employment contributes to an increase in female bargaining power and has non-linear effects on child nutrition (Debela, Gehrke, & Qaim, 2020). the use of hired labor.…”