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Does Maternal Employment Affect Child Nutrition Status? New Evidence from Egypt

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  • Rashad, Ahmed

    (Frankfurt School of Finance & Management)

  • Sharaf, Mesbah

    (University of Alberta, Department of Economics)

Abstract

Despite that maternal employment can increase family income; several studies suggest that it has adverse health consequences for children. The literature on the effects of maternal employment on children in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is sparse. In this study, we assess the impact of maternal employment on children’s health in Egypt, the most populous country in the MENA region. We use a nationally representative sample of 12,888 children under the age of five from 2014 Demographic and Health Survey for Egypt, to estimate the causal impact of mothers’ employment on their children’s nutritional status, as measured by the Height-for-Age Score (HAZ). We adopt various estimation methods and control for observed and unobserved household characteristics to identify the causal effect of maternal employment. These different techniques include Propensity Score Matching (PSM), and an Instrumental Variable Two Stage Least Squares approach. We find that maternal employment has a robust negative impact on child nutritional status in Egypt. However, the effect of maternal employment is understated when the Ordinary Least Squares and PSM are applied. More family-friendly policies for working moms are strongly needed in Egypt.

Suggested Citation

  • Rashad, Ahmed & Sharaf, Mesbah, 2017. "Does Maternal Employment Affect Child Nutrition Status? New Evidence from Egypt," Working Papers 2017-7, University of Alberta, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:ris:albaec:2017_007
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Melaku, Astewale Bimr & Debela, Bethelhem Legesse & Qaim, Matin, 2023. "Women’s employment in high-value agriculture and child nutrition: Evidence from the Ethiopian cut-flower industry," 2023 Annual Meeting, July 23-25, Washington D.C. 335848, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    3. José Andrade & Joan Gil, 2023. "Maternal Employment and Child Malnutrition in Ecuador," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(13), pages 1-25, June.
    4. Olivia Nankinga & Betty Kwagala & Cyprian Misinde & Eddy J. Walakira, 2022. "Childcare Arrangements and Wellbeing of Children of Employed Women in Central Uganda," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 15(1), pages 179-197, February.
    5. Bethelhem Legesse Debela & Esther Gehrke & Matin Qaim, 2021. "Links between Maternal Employment and Child Nutrition in Rural Tanzania," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 103(3), pages 812-830, May.
    6. José Carlos Andrade & Joan Gil, 2022. "Maternal employment and childhood malnutrition in Ecuador," UB School of Economics Working Papers 2022/416, University of Barcelona School of Economics.
    7. Kondratjeva, Olga & Sam, Abdoul G. & Mishra, Khushbu, 2021. "Impact of mother’s employment on children’s nutrition: evidence from Nepal," 2021 Annual Meeting, August 1-3, Austin, Texas 313853, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Maternal Employment; Child Under-nutrition; Instrumental Variable; Egypt;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I15 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Economic Development
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth

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