The empowerment puzzle: Unmasking the role of women’s empowerment in addressing undernutrition in India

India faces a significant challenge in addressing the target of SDGs set for nutrition for both mothers as well as children. A significant number of studies have identified that women’s empowerment plays a vital role in determining their own health and nutritional status as well as that of their chi...

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Main Authors: Sharma, Anjali, Nihal, Saif
Format: Ponencia
Language:Inglés
Published: International Institute for Population Sciences, India 2023
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/137027
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author Sharma, Anjali
Nihal, Saif
author_browse Nihal, Saif
Sharma, Anjali
author_facet Sharma, Anjali
Nihal, Saif
author_sort Sharma, Anjali
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description India faces a significant challenge in addressing the target of SDGs set for nutrition for both mothers as well as children. A significant number of studies have identified that women’s empowerment plays a vital role in determining their own health and nutritional status as well as that of their children. However, the majority of studies based on the National Family and Health Survey looked at empowerment in terms of a composite index of autonomy in decision-making, autonomy in mobility, financial autonomy, and attitude toward wifebeating. This study is a valuable addition to existing research by incorporating additional indicators and investigating their individual roles in understanding the prevalence of undernutrition among mothers and children. By utilizing the latest round of the National Family and Health Survey (2019–21), women’s empowerment was assessed through five distinct dimensions: autonomy in decision-making and mobility, workforce participation, ownership of assets, attitude toward violence, and digital empowerment. Both bivariate and multivariate techniques were employed with two outcome variables (i.e., underweight children and underweight mothers). Findings indicated that the prevalence of undernutrition among both mother and children decreases with increasing autonomy index, digital empowerment, and negative attitude toward wifebeating. However, two surprising findings were identified. Firstly, the prevalence of undernutrition was higher among both mothers and children if the mother was working in the agricultural sector. Secondly, the undernutrition among children was higher if the mother had ownership of assets. This requires further investigation for pathways through which these individual dimensions of women’s empowerment play a role for determining undernutrition.
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spelling CGSpace1370272024-01-05T02:07:49Z The empowerment puzzle: Unmasking the role of women’s empowerment in addressing undernutrition in India Sharma, Anjali Nihal, Saif gender agriculture research women's empowerment nutrition India faces a significant challenge in addressing the target of SDGs set for nutrition for both mothers as well as children. A significant number of studies have identified that women’s empowerment plays a vital role in determining their own health and nutritional status as well as that of their children. However, the majority of studies based on the National Family and Health Survey looked at empowerment in terms of a composite index of autonomy in decision-making, autonomy in mobility, financial autonomy, and attitude toward wifebeating. This study is a valuable addition to existing research by incorporating additional indicators and investigating their individual roles in understanding the prevalence of undernutrition among mothers and children. By utilizing the latest round of the National Family and Health Survey (2019–21), women’s empowerment was assessed through five distinct dimensions: autonomy in decision-making and mobility, workforce participation, ownership of assets, attitude toward violence, and digital empowerment. Both bivariate and multivariate techniques were employed with two outcome variables (i.e., underweight children and underweight mothers). Findings indicated that the prevalence of undernutrition among both mother and children decreases with increasing autonomy index, digital empowerment, and negative attitude toward wifebeating. However, two surprising findings were identified. Firstly, the prevalence of undernutrition was higher among both mothers and children if the mother was working in the agricultural sector. Secondly, the undernutrition among children was higher if the mother had ownership of assets. This requires further investigation for pathways through which these individual dimensions of women’s empowerment play a role for determining undernutrition. 2023-10-11 2024-01-04T12:46:54Z 2024-01-04T12:46:54Z Presentation https://hdl.handle.net/10568/137027 en Open Access application/pdf International Institute for Population Sciences, India Sharma, Anjali; Nihal, Saif. 2023. The empowerment puzzle: Unmasking the role of women’s empowerment in addressing undernutrition in India. Presentation. Presented at the CGIAR GENDER Conference 'From Research to Impact: Towards just and resilient agri-food systems', New Delhi, India, 9-12 October 2023. International Institute for Population Sciences, India
spellingShingle gender
agriculture
research
women's empowerment
nutrition
Sharma, Anjali
Nihal, Saif
The empowerment puzzle: Unmasking the role of women’s empowerment in addressing undernutrition in India
title The empowerment puzzle: Unmasking the role of women’s empowerment in addressing undernutrition in India
title_full The empowerment puzzle: Unmasking the role of women’s empowerment in addressing undernutrition in India
title_fullStr The empowerment puzzle: Unmasking the role of women’s empowerment in addressing undernutrition in India
title_full_unstemmed The empowerment puzzle: Unmasking the role of women’s empowerment in addressing undernutrition in India
title_short The empowerment puzzle: Unmasking the role of women’s empowerment in addressing undernutrition in India
title_sort empowerment puzzle unmasking the role of women s empowerment in addressing undernutrition in india
topic gender
agriculture
research
women's empowerment
nutrition
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/137027
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