IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/agecon/v52y2021i6p883-899.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The effect of women's nutrition knowledge and empowerment on child nutrition outcomes in rural Ethiopia

Author

Listed:
  • Mequanint B. Melesse

Abstract

Child malnutrition remains widespread in Ethiopia. Women's nutrition knowledge and empowerment are emphasized as key impact pathways for nutrition‐sensitive programs and interventions. This paper examines effects of women's nutrition knowledge and empowerment on child nutrition outcomes using survey data from rural Ethiopia. Employing econometric strategies that account for potential endogeneity concerns, nutrition knowledge, and empowerment are found to have strong and significant effects on children's dietary diversity and stunting. Their interaction is significantly correlated only with stunting, perhaps suggesting the importance of the interaction between nutrition knowledge and empowerment for long‐term nutrition outcomes. A disaggregated analysis of empowerment reveals that empowering women in household agricultural decisions and increasing their access to and control of economic resources are more promising for improving child nutrition. Overall, the findings suggest that efforts targeting to improve child nutrition in Ethiopia need to be complemented by efforts to improve women's nutrition knowledge and empowerment.

Suggested Citation

  • Mequanint B. Melesse, 2021. "The effect of women's nutrition knowledge and empowerment on child nutrition outcomes in rural Ethiopia," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 52(6), pages 883-899, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:agecon:v:52:y:2021:i:6:p:883-899
    DOI: 10.1111/agec.12668
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/agec.12668
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/agec.12668?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Burchi, Francesco, 2010. "Child nutrition in Mozambique in 2003: The role of mother's schooling and nutrition knowledge," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 8(3), pages 331-345, December.
    2. John A. List & Azeem M. Shaikh & Yang Xu, 2019. "Multiple hypothesis testing in experimental economics," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 22(4), pages 773-793, December.
    3. Alderman, Harold & Headey, Derek D., 2014. "The nutritional returns to parental education:," IFPRI discussion papers 1379, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    4. Malapit, Hazel Jean L. & Quisumbing, Agnes R., 2015. "What dimensions of women’s empowerment in agriculture matter for nutrition in Ghana?," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 54-63.
    5. Bina Agarwal, 1997. "''Bargaining'' and Gender Relations: Within and Beyond the Household," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 3(1), pages 1-51.
    6. Alkire, Sabina & Meinzen-Dick, Ruth & Peterman, Amber & Quisumbing, Agnes & Seymour, Greg & Vaz, Ana, 2013. "The Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 71-91.
    7. Toman Barsbai & Victoria Licuanan & Andreas Steinmayr & Erwin Tiongson & Dean Yang, 2020. "Information and the Acquisition of Social Network Connections," NBER Working Papers 27346, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Douglas Staiger & James H. Stock, 1997. "Instrumental Variables Regression with Weak Instruments," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 65(3), pages 557-586, May.
    9. Hirvonen, Kalle & Hoddinott, John & Minten, Bart & Stifel, David, 2017. "Children’s Diets, Nutrition Knowledge, and Access to Markets," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 303-315.
    10. Jayachandran N. Variyam & James Blaylock & Biing-Hwan Lin & Katherine Ralston & David Smallwood, 1999. "Mother's Nutrition Knowledge and Children's Dietary Intakes," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 81(2), pages 373-384.
    11. Mequanint B. Melesse & Adane Dabissa & Erwin Bulte, 2018. "Joint Land Certification Programmes and Women’s Empowerment: Evidence from Ethiopia," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(10), pages 1756-1774, October.
    12. Naila Kabeer, 1999. "Resources, Agency, Achievements: Reflections on the Measurement of Women's Empowerment," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 30(3), pages 435-464, July.
    13. Steven A. Block, 2007. "Maternal nutrition knowledge versus schooling as determinants of child micronutrient status," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 59(2), pages 330-353, April.
    14. David R. Just & Gnel Gabrielyan, 2016. "Food and consumer behavior: why the details matter," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 47(S1), pages 73-83, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sakketa, Tekalign Gutu, 2022. "Urbanisation and rural development in developing countries: A review of pathways and impacts," IDOS Discussion Papers 5/2022, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hazel Jean L. Malapit & Esha Sraboni & Agnes R. Quisumbing & Akhter U. Ahmed, 2019. "Intrahousehold empowerment gaps in agriculture and children's well‐being in Bangladesh," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 37(2), pages 176-203, March.
    2. Hirvonen, Kalle & Hoddinott, John & Minten, Bart & Stifel, David, 2017. "Children’s Diets, Nutrition Knowledge, and Access to Markets," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 303-315.
    3. Susana Martínez-Restrepo & Laura Ramos-Jaimes & Alma Espino & Martin Valdivia & Johanna Yancari Cueva, 2017. "Measuring women’s economic empowerment: Critical lessons from South America," INFORMES DE INVESTIGACIÓN 015825, FEDESARROLLO.
    4. Yuriy Pylypchuk & Samuel W. Norton, 2015. "Preventing Malaria among Children in Zambia: The Role of Mother's Knowledge," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(11), pages 1389-1402, November.
    5. Erin Lentz & Elizabeth Bageant & Sudha Narayanan, 2021. "Empowerment and nutrition in Niger: insights from the Women’s Empowerment in Nutrition grid," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 13(5), pages 1227-1244, October.
    6. Ruth Meinzen-Dick & Agnes Quisumbing, 2018. "Response to Garcia and Wanner “gender inequality and food security: lessons for the gender-responsive work of the international food policy research institute and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 10(2), pages 247-251, April.
    7. Narayanan, Sudha & Lentz, Erin & Fontana, Marzia & De, Anuradha & Kulkarni, Bharati, 2019. "Developing the Women's Empowerment in Nutrition Index in Two States of India," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    8. Sudha Narayanan et al, 2019. "The Women's empowerment in nutrition index," Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai Working Papers 2019-020, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai, India.
    9. A. Galiè & N. Teufel & L. Korir & I. Baltenweck & A. Webb Girard & P. Dominguez-Salas & K. M. Yount, 2019. "The Women’s Empowerment in Livestock Index," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 142(2), pages 799-825, April.
    10. Joseph Deutsch & Jacques Silber, 2017. "Does women's empowerment affect the health of children?: The case of Mozambique," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2017-211, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    11. Susana Martínez-Restrepo & Laura Ramos-Jaimes & Alma Espino & Martin Valdivia & Johanna Yancari Cueva, 2017. "Measuring women’s economic empowerment: Critical lessons from South America," Libros Fedesarrollo 15825, Fedesarrollo Provider_Institution: RePEc:edi:fedasco.
    12. Aziz, Noshaba & Ren, Yanjun & Rong, Kong & Zhou, Jin, 2021. "Women’s empowerment in agriculture and household food insecurity: Evidence from Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJK), Pakistan," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    13. Seymour, Greg & Peterman, Amber, 2018. "Context and measurement: An analysis of the relationship between intrahousehold decision making and autonomy," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 97-112.
    14. Meemken, Eva-Marie & Qaim, Matin, 2017. "Can Private Food Standards Promote Gender Equality in the Small Farm Sector?," 2017 Annual Meeting, July 30-August 1, Chicago, Illinois 258088, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    15. Sraboni, Esha & Quisumbing, Agnes, 2018. "Women’s empowerment in agriculture and dietary quality across the life course: Evidence from Bangladesh," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 21-36.
    16. Rao, Nitya, 2017. "Assets, Agency and Legitimacy: Towards a Relational Understanding of Gender Equality Policy and Practice," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 43-54.
    17. DeJaeghere, Joan & Pellowski Wiger, Nancy & Le, Hue & Luong, Phuong & Ngo, Nga Thi Hang & Vu, Thanh Thi & Lee, Jongwook, 2022. "Why do aspirations matter for empowerment?: Discrepancies between the A-WEAI domains and aspirations of ethnic minority women in Vietnam," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    18. O'Hara, Corey & Clement, Floriane, 2018. "Power as agency: A critical reflection on the measurement of women’s empowerment in the development sector," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 111-123.
    19. Benjamin Ouvrard & Stefan Ambec & Arnaud Reynaud & Stéphane Cezera & Murudaiah Shivamurthy, 2022. "Sharing rules for a common-pool resource in a lab experiment," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 59(3), pages 605-635, October.
    20. Bergolo, Marcelo & Galván, Estefanía, 2018. "Intra-household Behavioral Responses to Cash Transfer Programs. Evidence from a Regression Discontinuity Design," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 100-118.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:agecon:v:52:y:2021:i:6:p:883-899. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iaaeeea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.