IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/wdevel/v124y2019ic30.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Rural women’s empowerment and children’s food and nutrition security in Bangladesh

Author

Listed:
  • Holland, Cara
  • Rammohan, Anu

Abstract

Women’s empowerment and child stunting remain key development challenges in Bangladesh. The objective of this study is to analyse the influence of female empowerment in agriculture, on child food security. This study uses household survey data from two waves of the Bangladesh Integrated Household Survey (BIHS), a rich panel dataset of over 6500 households in rural Bangladesh which includes detailed child anthropometric measurements of children under five years old. We adopt a multidimensional approach to female empowerment by analysing five key empowerment indicators from the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI). The multivariate regression analysis explores the relationship between five key empowerment indicators and child stunting, a proxy for child food security. Our empirical analysis finds that women’s autonomy in household productive decisions and confidence in public speaking are associated with significantly higher children’s height-for-age z-scores (haz) and a decreased probability of stunting in this sample. These results suggest expanding women’s empowerment is likely to complement nutritional interventions to reduce stunting in Bangladesh, while making progress towards other social and development goals.

Suggested Citation

  • Holland, Cara & Rammohan, Anu, 2019. "Rural women’s empowerment and children’s food and nutrition security in Bangladesh," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 1-1.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:124:y:2019:i:c:30
    DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2019.104648
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X19302967
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.worlddev.2019.104648?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Vibhuti Mendiratta, 2015. "Impact of Rainfall Shocks on Child Health: Evidence from India," Working Papers halshs-01211575, HAL.
    2. Jennifer L. Solotaroff & Rohini Prabha Pande, 2014. "Violence against Women and Girls : Lessons from South Asia," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 20153, December.
    3. Hazel Jean L. Malapit & Suneetha Kadiyala & Agnes R. Quisumbing & Kenda Cunningham & Parul Tyagi, 2015. "Women's Empowerment Mitigates the Negative Effects of Low Production Diversity on Maternal and Child Nutrition in Nepal," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(8), pages 1097-1123, August.
    4. Bhagowalia, Priya & Menon, Purnima & Quisumbing, Agnes R. & Soundararajan, Vidhya, 2012. "What Dimensions of Women’s Empowerment Matter Most for Child Nutrition? Evidence Using Nationally Representative Data from Bangladesh:," IFPRI discussion papers 1192, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    5. Sraboni, Esha & Quisumbing, Agnes R. & Ahmed, Akhter, 2021. "Women's empowerment in agriculture: What role for food security in Bangladesh?," IFPRI book chapters, in: Securing food for all in Bangladesh, chapter 14, pages 483-548, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    6. Duncan Thomas, 1994. "Like Father, like Son; Like Mother, like Daughter: Parental Resources and Child Height," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 29(4), pages 950-988.
    7. 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.
    8. Monica Jain, 2018. "Large Decrease in Child Stunting despite Limited Improvement in Children’s Food Intake: Evidence from Rural Bangladesh," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 66(3), pages 555-583.
    9. 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.
    10. Sraboni, Esha & Quisumbing, Agnes R., 2018. "Women’s empowerment in agriculture and dietary quality across the life course: Evidence from Bangladesh:," IFPRI discussion papers 1709, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    11. Headey, Derek & Hoddinott, John & Ali, Disha & Tesfaye, Roman & Dereje, Mekdim, 2015. "The Other Asian Enigma: Explaining the Rapid Reduction of Undernutrition in Bangladesh," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 749-761.
    12. Haddad, Lawrence & Hoddinott, John, 1994. "Women's income and boy-girl anthropometric status in the Cote d'Ivoire," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 543-553, April.
    13. 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.
    14. Smith, Lisa C. & Ramakrishnan, Usha & Ndiaye, Aida & Haddad, Lawrence James & Martorell, Reynaldo, 2003. "The importance of women's status for child nutrition in developing countries:," Research reports 131, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    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. Klein, Matthew J. & Barham, Bradford L. & Wu, Yuexuan, 2019. "Gender Equality in the Family Can Reduce the Malaria Burden in Malawi," Staff Paper Series 594, University of Wisconsin, Agricultural and Applied Economics.
    2. Pandey, Vivek & Nagarajan, Hari K. & Kumar, Deepak, 2021. "Impact of Gendered Participation in market-linked value-chains on Economic Outcomes: Evidence from India," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    3. Sangwan, Nikita & Kumar, Shalander, 2021. "Labor force participation of rural women and the household’s nutrition: Panel data evidence from SAT India," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    4. He, Jun & Xie, Yongxiang, 2022. "The sociocultural mechanism of obesity: The influence of gender role attitudes on obesity and the gender gap," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 293(C).
    5. Dahlum, Sirianne & Knutsen, Carl Henrik & Mechkova, Valeriya, 2022. "Women’s political empowerment and economic growth," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    6. Loan Vu & Anu Rammohan & Srinivas Goli, 2021. "The Role of Land Ownership and Non-Farm Livelihoods on Household Food and Nutrition Security in Rural India," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(24), pages 1-22, December.

    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. 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.
    2. 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).
    3. Soumya Gupta & Prabhu L. Pingali & Per Pinstrup-Andersen, 2017. "Women’s empowerment in Indian agriculture: does market orientation of farming systems matter?," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 9(6), pages 1447-1463, December.
    4. 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.
    5. Alison Riddle & Abby Ramage & Cynthia M. Kroeger & Zulfiqar A. Bhutta & Elizabeth Kristjansson & Monica Taljaard & Carol Vlassoff & Sara Wuehler & Becky Skidmore & Alexandria L. Bennett & Anita Rizvi , 2021. "PROTOCOL: The effects of empowerment‐based nutrition interventions on the nutritional status of women of reproductive age in low‐ and middle‐income countries," Campbell Systematic Reviews, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 17(3), September.
    6. Francis Tsiboe & Yacob A. Zereyesus & Jennie S. Popp & Evelyn Osei, 2018. "The Effect of Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture on Household Nutrition and Food Poverty in Northern Ghana," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 138(1), pages 89-108, July.
    7. Bonis-Profumo, Gianna & Stacey, Natasha & Brimblecombe, Julie, 2021. "Measuring women's empowerment in agriculture, food production, and child and maternal dietary diversity in Timor-Leste," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    8. Komatsu, Hitomi & Malapit, Hazel Jean L. & Theis, Sophie, 2018. "Does women’s time in domestic work and agriculture affect women’s and children’s dietary diversity? Evidence from Bangladesh, Nepal, Cambodia, Ghana, and Mozambique," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 256-270.
    9. 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.
    10. 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.
    11. Malapit, Hazel & Quisumbing, Agnes & Meinzen-Dick, Ruth & Seymour, Greg & Martinez, Elena M. & Heckert, Jessica & Rubin, Deborah & Vaz, Ana & Yount, Kathryn M., 2019. "Development of the project-level Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (pro-WEAI)," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 675-692.
    12. Ross, Kara L. & Zereyesus, Yacob & Shanoyan, Aleksan & Amanor-Boadu, Vincent, 2015. "The Health Effects of Women Empowerment: Recent Evidence from Northern Ghana," International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, vol. 18(1), pages 1-17, February.
    13. Yimer, Feiruz & Tadesse, Fanaye, 2015. "Women’s empowerment in agriculture and dietary diversity in Ethiopia:," ESSP working papers 80, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    14. Malapit, Hazel J. & Quisumbing, Agnes R., 2014. "What dimensions of women’s empowerment in agriculture matter for nutrition-related practices and outcomes in Ghana?:," IFPRI discussion papers 1367, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    15. Malapit, Hazel J. & Sraboni, Esha & Quisumbing, Agnes R. & Ahmed, Akhter U., 2015. "Gender empowerment gaps in agriculture and children’s well-being in Bangladesh:," IFPRI discussion papers 1470, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    16. Anderson, C. Leigh & Reynolds, Travis W. & Gugerty, Mary Kay, 2017. "Husband and Wife Perspectives on Farm Household Decision-making Authority and Evidence on Intra-household Accord in Rural Tanzania," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 169-183.
    17. Quisumbing, Agnes R. & Sproule, Kathryn & Martinez, Elena M. & Malapit, Hazel, 2021. "Do tradeoffs among dimensions of women’s empowerment and nutrition outcomes exist? Evidence from six countries in Africa and Asia," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    18. 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.
    19. Sudha Narayanan & Udayan Rathore & Mohit Sharma, 2019. "Women's nutritional empowerment and their well-being Identifying key drivers in India and Bangladesh," Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai Working Papers 2019-004, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai, India.
    20. 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.

    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:eee:wdevel:v:124:y:2019:i:c:30. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/worlddev .

    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.