Maternal Health, Child Well-Being and Chronic Poverty: Does Women's Agency Matter?

Sharifa Begum and Binayak Sen ()
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Sharifa Begum: Former Senior Research Fellow, Bangladesh Institute of Dev elopment Studies (BIDS).

Bangladesh Development Studies, 2009, vol. 32, issue 4, 69-94

Abstract: This paper is about interconnections between women's empowerment and maternal health outcomes that can influence current child well- being and future escape chances from chronic poverty. The literature on intergenerationally transmitted chronic poverty identifies three channels working through economic asset, educational human capital and nutrition-productivity, respectively. The present paper underscores the importance of women Õ s health as another channel through which transmission of poverty is possible. The basic message is that while household poverty is an important correlate of maternal and child deprivations, the role of women's agency is no less consequential in shaping favourable outcomes. The empirical results for Bangladesh seem to suggest that women's agency can encourage strategic investments in mothers and children, including adoption of improved health care practices irrespective of gender of the child. And this can happen in the case of non-poor and poor households alike, indicating the potentials for conscious choice in overcoming chronic poverty. The silent role of women's agency needs to be seen as an important supplement to conventional anti-poverty policies.

Keywords: Maternal Health; Child Well-Being; Chronic Poverty; Womens Agency (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ris:badest:0489

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