Women’s Status: Levels, Determinants, Consequences for Malnutrition, Interventions, and Policy

This paper uses a gendered conceptual framework of the determinants of child survival, growth, and development to organize a review of the latest evidence on the strength of causal linkages between child nutrition outcomes and the relative status of women in seven Asian countries. Using a variety of indicators, the paper demonstrates the considerable variation in the status of women relative to men in the seven countries. Of the seven study countries, the status of women relative to men is lowest in Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh. The paper also reaffirms that equality in women’s status relative to men’s, controlling for a host of socioeconomic factors, has a positive impact on child growth and discourages the intergenerational perpetuation of gender-based discrimination.…