Implications of women's work for child nutritional status in sub-Saharan Africa: a case study of Nigeria

Abstract

The study examines the relationships between women's work and child nutritional status (stunting and wasting) of 5331 Nigerian children aged 0–59 months, using data from the 1990 Nigerian Demographic and Health Survey. In defining women's work, the study considers whether women earned cash from their work and carried their children to work in order to assess the importance of childcare and income, which are the principal pathways through which women's work affects child nutritional status. The study also examines infants and children differently in order to assess the influence of child's age on nutritional status. The results reveal that wasting among infants increased when mothers did not take them to work. Furthermore, mothers’ work reduced stunting in their children, but the expected positive effect of earning cash from work on childhood nutrition was less visible from the results. Other results from the study revealed that during infancy, having recent episodes of diarrhea or shorter breast-feeding duration increased wasting. Additionally, wasting was lower during infancy for children in households with pit toilets and children with Christian mothers. For infants, immunization reduced stunting, but longer duration of breast-feeding, being a higher parity child, being in households with pit toilets increased stunting. During childhood, higher birth weight, immunization, and having a Christian mother reduced stunting and wasting. Children in wealthy households are less likely to be stunted, while mother's education and being a higher parity child increased stunting. Also during childhood, having a Christian mother reduced wasting while recent episodes of fever increased wasting.

Introduction

Research concerning the implications of women's work for child nutritional status has gained popularity during the past three decades in developing countries (Leslie, 1989). This increased research is due partly to the changing economies in developing countries, from family-oriented types of businesses to businesses oriented to the application of modern technology. This transition, which also includes increases in the number of educated women, has created better opportunities for employment outside the home for women, resulting in greater participation in the labor force (Schultz, 1990). However, because women are thought to be the primary child-care providers in the home, this change has made compatibility of work with childcare (in regard to breast-feeding) more difficult but very important.

This greater labor force participation not withstanding, the majority of working women in developing countries, including sub-Saharan Africa, still works in the informal sector (or are self-employed) and are able to combine work with breast-feeding (Basu, 1996). The situation is also true in Nigeria (Di Domenico, de Cola, & Leishman, 1987). However, the general assumption that women who work in the informal sector combine work with childcare or breast-feeding needs further qualification. Some women in the informal sector may leave their children in the care of other people while engaging in their different economic activities (Wandel & Holmboe-Ottesen, 1992). Furthermore, women who work in the modern sector are not the only mothers who earn cash from their work. Because of these problems, a simple definition of women's work (those working versus those not working, self-employed versus employee, and formal or informal sector employment) may not suffice when examining the effect of women's work on health outcomes such as child nutritional status in developing countries.

Therefore, this study goes beyond these simple categorizations and examines whether women earn cash from their work and take their children to work. The study also examines the importance of these two factors on child nutritional status in Nigeria a country whose labor market offers better opportunities for women's participation in the labor market than many other African countries. Available information reveals that by the mid-1990s, women constituted about 34% of the total labor force in Nigeria, and about 43% of all working age Nigerian women worked outside the home (Neft & Levine, 1997). According to the World Bank (2000), the Nigerian economy is more developed than that of many sub-Saharan African countries, with better indicators of development and modernization (World Bank, 2000). Thus, women in Nigeria had greater opportunity for employment in the modern sector of the labor market, which may have increased their opportunities for better income. However, consequent reduction in the compatibility of work with breast-feeding and childcare may have resulted. Indeed, available data reveal a poor breast-feeding pattern in Nigeria, with about 1% of children under 6 months exclusively breast-fed there (NDHS, 1990; PRB, 1999; WHO, 1996). While agriculture (subsistence) and other informal jobs such as trading may offer better opportunities for childcare, including breast-feeding, they are more likely to offer less income-generating opportunities (Di Domenico et al., 1987).