Abstract
This article examines the relationship between women’s empowerment and child well-being in Nepal. Various indicators of women’s empowerment and child well-being are presented and compared across the seven provinces in the country. A strong positive relationship between the two is established. In fact, women’s empowerment appears to have a stronger relationship to children’s well-being than wealth indicators.
Introduction
Nepal is one of the poorest countries in the world. According to the latest data (World Bank, 2019), Nepal has a gross national per capita income of US$960 (US$3,090 in terms of purchasing power parity). 1 In terms of human development, it ranks 149 out of 189 countries, with a human development index (HDI) of 0.574, and it ranks 118 in the gender inequality index (GII), with a value of 0.480. In Nepal, 15 percent of the population live on less than a US$1.90 (PPP) a day, and 32.6 percent of the employed are designated as the working poor (living on less than US$3.10 PPP per day (United Nations, 2017; World Bank, 2018). Nepal lies between China and India. Its total area is 147,181 sq. km with a population of 29.3 million. Geographically, Nepal is divided into three ecological zones—mountains, hills, and Terai (plains bordering India). In the mountains, altitude ranges from 4,877 m to 8,848 m above sea level. The hill region is between the mountains and Terai with the altitude ranging from 610 m to 4,877 m above sea level. The Terai region lies in the southern part of the country and is primarily a low-lying flat area bordering the plains of India. Within these three regions, only 20 percent of the population resides in urban areas, and about 70.1 percent of total employed people are engaged in agriculture (Central Statistical Bureau of Nepal, 2018; World Bank, 2018). Distributed along these diverse ecological zones, Nepal is divided into seven provinces. 2 This article focuses on relationship between women’s empowerment and child well-being across these various provinces. We establish a strong relationship between the two. In fact, various measures of women’s empowerment appear to have a stronger relationship to child well-being than wealth indicators.
As a measure for women’s empowerment, we look at the education and employment indicators for women. In addition, we also consider their decision-making ability within a household, their exposure to family planning services, their landownership status, and whether or not they have been victims of domestic abuse. To measure the well-being of children, we look at education and health indicators of children; specifically, the net enrollment rate in secondary school, application of basic vaccinations, and childhood anemia. We demonstrate a strong relationship between women’s empowerment and child well-being. We also find that the wealth of a province is not directly associated with better status of women, nor it is associated with better well-being of children. Most of the data are from the National Health and Demographic Survey of Nepal (Ministry of Health et al., 2016). This was a household-level survey that encompasses households throughout the country. We use the data from this survey that is aggregated for each province.
Previous academic studies that have analyzed the relationship between women’s empowerment and child welfare, for Nepal, have used some form of landownership status of women as a measure of women’s empowerment. Hatlebakk and Gurung (2016) use the relative landownership of the paternal and maternal side of the extended family as a measure of female economic empowerment. They also consider the role a woman has in making decisions regarding vising her relatives. They find a positive association between female empowerment and children’s literacy levels for both genders in Nepal. Allendorf (2007) also explores whether women’s land rights empower women and benefit young children’s health in Nepal. They conclude that women who own land are significantly more likely to have a final say in household decisions, and children of mothers who own land are less likely to be severely underweight. Chakrabarti (2018) considers the association between female landownership and fertility in Nepal and finds female landowners, on an average, to have less children than non-landowners.
All these papers have focused on landownership as a measure of women’s empowerment. However, a very small percentage of women actually own land in Nepal. According to the most recent Demographic and Health Survey of Nepal (Ministry of Health et al., 2016), only 8 percent of women own a house, and 11 percent of women own land in Nepal. In this article, we do consider landownership by women, but we also consider various other indicators of women’s empowerment. Specifically, we consider the literacy and employment rate of women, the percentage of women who have been exposed to family planning messages, percentage of women who have suffered abuse, percentage of women who decide on children’s education, percentage of women who have control over their earnings, and the fertility rate. Since we use a variety of indicators as a measure of women’s empowerment, and we find most of them to be strongly correlated to child well-being, our results are more robust than other studies, which use only a single measure of women’s empowerment. Regarding child well-being, we consider the percentage of children (male and female) who are enrolled in secondary school, the percentage of children who have had basic vaccinations, and the percentage suffering from anemia.
Our study is also more of a macro-level study. Nepal is divided into seven provinces, and we use the data for each of the seven provinces. First, we consider the general economic condition of each province, using various economic indicators like the percentage of population in the lowest wealth quintiles, food security, distance from the nearest hospital, and the Gini coefficient. Next, we examine the indicators of female empowerment in each province and the education and health indicators of children. Finally, we analyze the relationship between women’s empowerment and child well-being. We find almost all measures of women’s empowerment to be very strongly related to a child’s well-being. Surprisingly, we also find that the wealth of a province does not necessarily correlate to better outcomes for women and children.
The status of women in developing countries is well documented in the development economics literature (Ray, 1998; Todaro & Smith, 2015) and in numerous studies on gender inequality by international organizations like the World Bank (2015) and the United Nations (2015, 2016). This inequality is demonstrated right from the preference for boys at birth and, later, in education, employment, inheritance, and health care among others. In many developing countries, male children are seen as a status symbol for parents as they are considered to be the primary providers for a family, and the ones to look after parents in old age. Girls, on the other hand, get married off to their husband’s homes and become a part of the husband’s family; consequently, the family where the female child is born is seen not to benefit from the return on investment on a girl-child. This preference and inequality in treatment is magnified in poor families, where limited resources amplify the trade-offs involved in allocating these resources to different members of the family. Moreover, in societies with the dowry system, where a girl’s family has to provide the groom’s family with numerous material possession at marriage, a female child is viewed as an additional burden. The problem of missing women, explained by Sen (1990, 2003), is a consequence of the societal and cultural preference for boys.
In spite of these biases against women, in almost every part of the world, women are the primary caregivers of children. However, in spite of being primary caretakers, their diminished status in a household and in the society may prohibit them from being primary decision-makers in matters that directly impact the well-being of children, specifically in deciding the education, nutrition, and health care of children. Empowerment of women would allow them to have a more significant role in these decision-making processes. Hence, an improvement in the status of women, besides being important for its own sake, also impacts the welfare of children, which has consequences for long-term economic development prospects of a country. Besides the private benefit to the woman, the social benefit to the society at large, due to positive externalities, makes increased women’s empowerment imperative as a long-term development strategy for developing countries. According to Todaro and Smith (2015), the rate of return on women’s education is higher than that of men’s in most developing countries. Sen (1997) concludes that emancipation of women in developing countries is more effective in fertility reduction than authoritarian limits on family size. Duflo (2012) provides an extensive review of the literature on women’s empowerment and its relationship to development, and he concludes that while development brings about women’s empowerment, empowering women also impacts development directly.
Dufflo’s argument carries a special significance in Nepal’s context. Women’s empowerment in itself and in its relation to child well-being are important, not merely to enhance the status and welfare of women and children or just because it is socially and morally right to pursue these goals. It is important also because it may be one critical factor that can bring about the still elusive positive results in governance and development outcomes in the country. Despite some improvements in growth performance and the education and health status of the population in recent years, Nepal remains trapped in the category of “least developed country” as defined by the United Nations. Yet, the country plans to become a middle-income country by 2030. We believe this is possible, but it cannot be done by simply relying on conventional policy means. Women’s empowerment needs to be a critical part of the development agenda.
Historical Background of Nepal
In the past three decades, Nepal experienced several dramatic changes politically, culturally and socially. Up to 1990, Nepal was ruled by absolute monarchs, and it was a Hindu country ruled by Hindu kings. In 1990, a successful widespread uprising led to the establishment of multiparty democracy, bringing an end to the era of absolute monarchy. The King of Nepal, King Birendra, now served as a constitutional monarch. For several years after the uprising, democracy was prevalent but unstable with constant changes in government. In the first 12 years of a democratic Nepal, there were as many as 12 changes in government. Corruption remained widespread. Dissatisfied with parliamentary democracy, in 1996, the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist, launched the “People’s War” in Nepal, claiming that the current system was inadequate for ensuring welfare for the Nepalese people. The primary intention of this insurgency was to institute a people’s republic and elect a constituent assembly to draft a new constitution that would be more responsive to needs and welfare of the “oppressed groups.” The insurgency spread throughout the country. In a period of 10 years, about 13,000 people lost their lives along with a significant loss of physical capital (Do and Iyer, 2010; Panday, 2011).
In 2001, under puzzling circumstances, a palace massacre resulted in the killing of King Birendra and his entire family. His brother, King Gyanendra, was crowned the new constitutional monarch. Maoist violence continued to rise, and the government started more aggressive attacks against the Maoists. In 2005, King Gyanendra dismissed the coalition government and assumed absolute power. Later that year, the Maoists declared a cease-fire and entered a peace agreement with other political parties, ending the decade-long war and putting forth a united opposition against the monarchy. Successful widespread uprising against the king’s move resulted in bringing an end to the long-standing monarchy in the country. A comprehensive peace agreement was signed between the newly installed interim government and the Maoists in 2006. With the end of monarchy, Nepal is now a federal republic with a new democratic constitution promulgated in 2015. It was felt that a new era of much-needed economic and social reform and change was dawning in the country. As stated by World Bank (2019), “Nepal is undergoing a historic transition towards a federal and secular republic. This represents a window of opportunity for the country to further reduce poverty, increase the income of the bottom 40%, and pursue its ambitious agenda of inclusive growth and accountable service delivery” (World Bank, 2019).
Gender Relations Within the Historical Context
Throughout Nepal’s history, patriarchy has been a dominant social norm, governing gender relations in Nepal for centuries. In Nepal, women are deemed to be “less rational, less educated” and “not men.” This is the “taken-for-granted tag of cultural production of the society” (Acharya, 2017). As a result, women have suffered injustices and discrimination in every sphere of life. From birth to death, in marriage and divorce, from households to workplaces, they have been treated as inferior to men. According to Acharya (2017), “Nepal’s culture places men in the center in any social, political and institutional life, and women are always marginalized as women are allowed limited freedom.”
There have been some improvements in the situation since 1990 after the establishment of multiparty democracy, but the hold of patriarchy, in state and society, is so strong that women continue to lag behind men in many respects. In 1990, the newly acquired right to free speech gave voice to the Nepali citizens, men and women alike, after many decades. For women, the most highlighted gain was the requirement of 5 percent female candidates for elections to the Lower House of the parliament and comparable token representation in other state organizations. The process of change got speeded up with the Maoists and their ‘People’s War’. In particular, it started with the mobilization of women for recruitment in the Maoist People’s Army, which was a good opportunity for many of the ignored to feel empowered. Most of them came from an ethnic or social background that historically had experienced repression for reasons that went beyond gender. Women, in fact, comprised anywhere from 30 percent to 40 percent of the Maoist cadres. The women were most active in villages and rural areas, where, for centuries, they had been victims of patriarchal society, social stigma, and superstitious beliefs. They served as nurses, messengers, guerilla fighters, organizers, health workers, and policymakers. This was an empowering factor in the lives of Nepali women (Acharya, 2017; Sharma & Prasain, 2004; Yami, 2007).
It is also believed that the “social reform campaign launched by Maoists in the areas they controlled during the War, against gambling, brewing and drinking alcohol, domestic violence, polygamy, child marriage” became additional attractions for the women to join the Maoists (Shrestha-Schipper, 2008–2009). Eventually, after the Maoists gave up arms and joined the political mainstream in 2006, the state began gradually introducing measures for treating women on an equal footing as men. Although it is still very much a work in progress, in the new Constitution of Nepal, women now have 33 percent guaranteed seats in the Lower House of the parliament with additional provisions and arrangements for increased representation in other state institutions, including the Upper House of the parliament, provincial assemblies, and the bureaucracy. Nepal has already seen a woman Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, a woman Speaker of the House of Representative, and, for the last 6 years, a woman President of the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal. In their empirical study of the effects of democracy on women’s empowerment, Paudal and Araugo (2017) find that, in Nepal, after achieving multiparty democracy in 2006, “women’s say in decision making increased significantly, and opinions on violence against women strengthened.” As stated by Acharya (2017) “Nepali women’s participation in major political movements in the history of Nepal made them politically, socially and culturally aware” and “helped them challenge the social, cultural and religious practices that stigmatized Nepali women for ages.” However, as illustrated by Mawly and Applebaum (2018), even the changes brought about by the Maoist People’s War did not prove to be a lasting accomplishment. They note that “The breakdown of traditional norms during the conflict was short-lived, many women had to readjust to old hierarchical gender relations after peace was reached” (Mawly & Applebaum, 2018, p. 9).
An important achievement on women’s rights was with respect to property rights. The main way of gaining land in Nepal is through inheritance. Historically, in Nepal, daughters did not have right to paternal property inheritance. Women gained right to property from her husband’s family after marriage. Divorced women did not have any property rights. After 1977, some changes were made, whereby an unmarried daughter of 35 years or older was entitled to paternal property but had to return it upon marriage. After the democracy movement in 2007, a new law guaranteed joint landownership between husband and wife. It also allowed equal rights to ancestral property for both sons and daughters, regardless of marital status (Mishra & Sam, 2016). Further improvements were made in 2017, whereby, Nepal now has a law that guarantees women full property rights equal to men, as a daughter or a spouse. However, it is still not clear how the law will eventually work with respect to women already married before the present law became operational. The government has also provided some rebate on the registration fee on land and other property registered in a woman’s name. This measure is designed to incentivize greater property ownership by the women in the household.
These significant improvements aside, it can take some time for the women to actually start accessing and enjoying their rights, that are still inadequate, in full. The influence of patriarchy is still so deep in the society that actual progress in the field will also depend on how reforms, in other areas of historically and socially sanctioned inequalities and exclusion that require change, might proceed. Even the daughters’ traditional shyness in claiming their place in society can come in the way (Kamat, 2018).
Mawly and Applebaum (2018) study women’s role in Nepal’s transition not only in the context of the Maoist conflict but also the disastrous earthquake of 2015. In their view, “gender-biased discrimination and legal barriers” inhibit women not only in accessing economic and social rights and justice but also in reparation and recovery efforts in post-conflict, post-earthquake Nepal. This makes the relation of women’s empowerment to Nepal’s development efforts especially evident. As described by Panday (2011), Nepal’s political changes and transformation of Nepal’s economy and society are possible only when the traditional elites can reconcile to the imperative of these changes and start honoring the value of women and. children in in actual policymaking and implementation of development policies. Overall, 40 percent of the country’s population belongs to the 16–40 age group. The present-day children will be joining that group; their status and well-being cannot be ignored. Women’s empowerment in itself and in its relation to child well-being are important not merely to enhance the status and welfare of women and children, it is also important because it may be one critical factor that can bring about the still elusive positive results in governance and development outcomes in the country.
Most of this article concentrates on the status of women and well-being of children after the implementation of the new constitution. However, in the next section, we do provide a brief description on the trends of some variables measuring the status of women and well-being of children at the aggregate level for Nepal as a whole.
Data
Most of our data comes from the 2016 National Demographic and Health Survey of Nepal (Ministry of Health (Nepal) et al., 2016), which is a nationally representative, cross-sectional household survey. In our analysis, our data can be divided into three broad categories—measures of women’s empowerment, measures of child welfare, and wealth indicators.
Wealth Indicators
We use three different wealth indicators. First is a direct measure of the percentage households in different wealth quintiles. Second is the percentage of households that have easy access to a health-care facility. In Nepal, only 49 percent of households are within 30 min of a government health facility, which is most likely the only health-care facility available in rural communities. We also consider the percentage of households that are food secure, that is, have adequate food all year round. In Nepal, 48 percent of household are food secure, 22 percent are moderately insecure, while 10 percent are severely insecure. As a measure of income inequality, we look at the Gini index, which is 0.31 for the country as a whole (Ministry of Health (Nepal) et al., 2016).
Women’s Empowerment Indicators
Our measures for women’s empowerment include measures of women literacy, employment, exposure to family planning, women’s decision-making ability, landownership and abuse. In the survey (Ministry of Health (Nepal) et al., 2016), respondents who had attended secondary school or higher were assumed literate. If they had not attended secondary school, they were given a sentence to read and considered literate if they could read all or part of a sentence. In Nepal, 89 percent of men were considered literate compared to 69 percent of women. Women were considered to be employed if they had done any work other than housework in the past 7 days preceding the survey. In Nepal, 57 percent of women were considered employed compared to 78 percent of men. Of those employed, 70 percent of women were employed in agriculture, compared to 33 percent of men. Regarding exposure to family planning messages in the media, 28 percent of women aged 15–49 had no exposure to any kind of family planning message in the past few months (radio, television, newspaper, magazine, street drama, internet, brochure, community health volunteers, etc.). With respect to other measures of women’s empowerment, 52 percent of women with cash earnings decided independently how earnings were used, and 62.3 percent of women decided on children’s education either by themselves or jointly with husband. Only 8 percent of women owned a house, and 11 percent of women owned land. With respect to violence against women, 22 percent of women experienced physical violence since age 15, and 7 percent experienced sexual violence.
Figure 1 indicates the trends in some measures of women’s empowerment from 2001 to 2016. 3 The data come from the household survey data in Nepal conducted in various years (Ministry of Health et al., 2001, 2006, 2011, 2016). Specifically, the figure depicts trends in the literacy rate of women, in the percentage of women with no exposure to family planning, and in the percentage of married women who make independent decisions about their own cash earning. We find a big improvement in the literacy rate of women in this time period, going from 35 percent in 2001 to 69 percent in 2016. We find that women with no exposure to family planning messages went down from 43 percent in 2001 to 23.7 percent in 2006 but has crept back up to about 28 percent. We also see that women’s ability to make decisions was at its lowest point in 2006 (30.7%) and has stayed steady at about 56 percent since 2011. The change in the value of these variables in 2006 could be due to disturbances in the villages created in the peak of the Maoist People’s War.
Child Well-being Indicators
We measure child well-being, using certain education and health indicators. Regarding education, we use the net school attendance ratio, which is the percentage of school-age population that attends secondary school. In Nepal, primary school attendance ratio is 80 percent, while the secondary school attendance ratio is 67percent. Regarding children’s health, we use the child vaccination rate and percentage of children suffering from anemia as indicators of child health. In Nepal, 87 percent of children aged 12–23 months have received specific vaccines at any time before the survey, and 53 percent of children aged 6–59 months suffered from anemia. Although not directly a measure of child’s health, we also include fertility rate of women, as the number of children in a family could impact resources available for the well-being of all children. In Nepal, the fertility rate, which is the average number of births per women in their childbearing years, is 2.3 children per women.
Figure 2 indicates the trend in some measures of a child’s well-being over time. 4 Specifically, the figure depicts trends in the basic vaccination rates of children and the net enrollment in secondary schools. We see a rise in secondary school enrollment rate from 30.8 percent in 2001 to 67 percent in 2016. Regarding basic vaccinations, the percentage of children receiving basic vaccinations increased from 65.7 percent in 2001 and steadies at 87 percent from 2011.
Hidden behind these aggregate figures are widespread discrepancies within the country in these measures of women’s empowerment, child welfare, and wealth. In the next few sections, we focus on geographic discrepancies within the country by comparing these indicators, across the seven provinces.
Comparison of Wealth and Depravity Indicators Across Provinces
We first want to get an understanding of the relative difference in wealth and depravity of the various provinces. In order to do this, for each province, we look at the percentage of population in the lowest wealth quintiles, the Gini coefficient, food insecurity, and distance from the hospital.
The percentage of population in the two lowest wealth quintiles in each province is given in Figure 3. We can clearly see that provinces 6 and 7 are the poorest provinces, while province 2 has the least percentage in the lowest quintile. Provinces 6 and 7 are located in the far-west regions of the country. These regions have been historically deprived of basic services and amenities, including transportation and other prerequisites for development.
Figure 4 shows the Gini coefficient for each province. We can see that provinces 6 and 7 are the most unequal in terms of income distribution, with province 2 being the most equal.
We consider two additional indicators of economic well-being in these provinces; specifically, we look at the percentage of population in each province who are moderately or severely food insecure (Figure 5), and we look at the distance to the nearest hospital from each province, measured by the percentage of people who have to travel more than 30 min and 60 min to get to a health-care facility (Figure 6). We can see that provinces 6 and 7 experience the highest level of food insecurity (Figure 5). More than 40 percent of the population of these provinces suffer from moderate or severe food insecurity. In the other provinces, about 20–30 percent of the population suffer from food insecurity. In Figure 6, we see that the residents of provinces 6 and 7 also have to travel longer distances to get to a hospital. The residents of province 2 appear to be closest to a hospital.
In conclusion, based on our measures of wealth indicators for each province, we find provinces 6 and 7 to be the most disadvantaged, and province 2 appears to be better off than the other provinces in a number of categories.
In the next section, we consider various indicators that depict empowerment of women. Specifically, we consider the employment rate of women, literacy rate of women, fertility rate, exposure to family planning, women suffering from abuse, and their decision-making powers. Do the more wealthy provinces fare better in these categories?
Women’s Empowerment Indicators Across Provinces
Figure 7 provides the employment rate and the literacy rate of women in each province. Province 2, which is one of the wealthiest province, has the lowest percentage of women who are literate and the lowest employment rate of women, both being less than 40 percent. In fact, the employment rate for women appears to be the highest in the two provinces (provinces 6 and 7) that were most deprived according to the wealth indicators.
Figure 8 indicates the fertility rate in each province. We see that province 2 has the highest fertility rate, higher even than province 6, which was the poorest province (refer to Figure 3). This contradicts the development economic literature, which states that poorer families have more children, for various reasons, include lower opportunity cost of having children, the need for children to contribute to household income, and look after parents in old age (Todaro & Smith, 2015).
The reason for these contradictory results could be because, in province 2, the least percentage of women have exposure to family planning messages (Figure 9). Also, in province 2, the highest percentage of women have suffered from physical and sexual abuse (Figure 10). Provinces 6 and 7, the two poorest provinces, fare better than most provinces with regard to exposure to any kind family planning messages, and better than provinces 2 and 5 with regard to physical and sexual abuse.
As additional measures of women’s empowerment, Figure 11 depicts women’s decision-making ability with regard to children’s education and her own cash earnings. Here, provinces 1, 4, and 3 have the greatest percentage of women with more autonomy with these decisions. Province 2, the wealthiest province, is similar to provinces 6 and 7, the poorest provinces.
The only area where the poorest provinces (provinces 6 and 7) are the worse off than province 2 is with regard to landownership by women (Figure 12). Overall, the percentage of landownership by women is very small in all provinces, but it is even smaller in the two poorest provinces, provinces 6 and 7. This is probably related to the fact that province 2 is a wealthier province and landownership could just be another reflection of the relative wealth differences in the provinces. Most households are landless in the poorer provinces, so it could be reflecting that rather than subjugation of women.
Overall, we find improved wealth does not necessarily mean better outcomes for women. Province 2, which is one of the wealthier provinces, has the worst outcomes for women in most of our measures of women’s empowerment. Province 2 in the Terai region, the region of Nepal bordering India, is distinct in its social characteristics. Traditions with regard to the status of women in households in this region vastly differ from the practices in most other communities. The women’s empowerment indicators we have depicted earlier could be a reflection of these social and cultural norms.
In the next section, we compare the indicators of child well-being in the different provinces.
Child Well-being Indicators Across Provinces
As indicated earlier, to measure child welfare, we consider the secondary school attendance rates for males and females (Figure 13), the percentage of children getting basic vaccinations (Figure 14), and percentage of children suffering from anemia (Figure 14).
From both figures, we can see that child welfare is lower in province 2 than in other provinces. As indicated in Figure 13, province 2 has the lowest percentage of children attending secondary school, both males and females. In Figure 14, we see that the lowest percentage of children with basic vaccinations and the highest percentage of children suffering from anemia are again in province 2. The two poorest provinces, provinces 6 and 7, seem to fare as well as the more wealthier provinces in these two categories.
From the above analysis, we can conclude that more wealthier the province does not necessarily translate to better outcomes for children. What is consistent is that province 2, which is the wealthiest province, has the worst outcomes for women and children. This could suggest a relationship between women’s empowerment and a child’s well-being. In order to understand this further, in the next section, we present some correlation coefficients between women’s empowerment indicators and a child’s well-being.
Correlation Coefficients: Women’s Empowerment and a Child’s Well-Being
Table 1 provides the correlation coefficients between the literacy rate and employment rate of women with various indicators of a child’s well-being for the seven provinces. We can see that higher literacy rate and employment rate of women are strongly correlated with increased secondary school enrollment for male (secondary Males) and female (secondary Females) children. It is also strongly correlated with reduced fertility rate, higher rate of basic vaccinations, and lower anemia in children. Most of the correlations are significant as indicated below.
Correlation of Literacy Rate and the Employment Rate of Women with Indicators of Child Well-being
Table 2 provides the correlation coefficients between two other measures of women’s empowerment, namely a wife’s ability to decide on her own earning and to make decision on the children’s education, with various indicators of a child well-being for the seven provinces. We can see that increase in the percentage of women making decisions about their own earnings is associated with reduced fertility rate and increase in percentage of children getting vaccinated. The other correlations are not significant. This could be because, in most cases, these decisions are made jointly with the husband.
Correlation Between a Wife’s Decision-Making Powers with Indicators of a Child’s Well-being
Table 3 provides the correlation coefficients between women suffering from physical and sexual abuse and those lacking exposure to family planning, with various indicators of children’s well-being for the seven provinces. Here, it can be seen that higher physical and sexual abuse is associated with worse outcomes for children in all measures of a child’s well-being. Also, lack of exposure to family planning is associated with worse outcomes for all measures of a child’s well-being and increased fertility rate. Most correlations are significant.
Correlation of Physical and Sexual Abuse against Women and Lack of Exposure to Family Planning with Indicators of a Child’s Well-being
Conclusion
In this study, various measures of women’s empowerment are found to be strongly related to better outcomes for children. While increased literacy and employment of women, less physical and sexual abuse against women, along with greater decision-making ability for women, and increased exposure to family planning are important in their own accord, they have the additional positive externality of contributing to the improvement of the education and health of their children. Surprisingly, the wealth of a province does not appear to necessarily guarantee better outcomes for women and children. Province 2, which had the best wealth indicators, had the worst outcomes for women and children in terms of most measures. In fact, some of the poorer provinces, like provinces 6 and 7, had better outcomes for women and children. Province 2 mainly lies in the Terai region, which consists of the low-lying areas of Nepal that border India. Compared to the rest of the nation, this region is different in its cultural and social norms and practices—including traditions related to the status of women. These norms and practices may have contributed to this apparent anomaly.
Provinces 6 and 7 are located in the far west of the country. These regions have been historically deprived of almost all basic services that are considered a prerequisite for development, including good transportation. In spite of this, the well-being of children appears to be better in these regions than province 2. A greater percentage of children attend secondary school, get basic vaccinations, and a smaller percentage suffer from anemia in provinces 6 and 7 compared to province 2. One reason appears be the better status of women. Provinces 6 and 7, despite being poorer than province 2, have a greater percentage of women who are literate, employed, have access to family planning, and have greater decision-making ability. Also, the women in provinces 6 and 7, on average, have a lower fertility rate and suffer from less physical and sexual abuse compared to women in province 2.
Women are the primary caretakers of children, and improvement in their well-being tends to improve the well-being of their children. Overall, we found a strong correlation between almost every indicator of women’s empowerment and the measures of a child’s well-being. Provinces with better outcomes for women have better child well-being. The well-being of children and empowerment of women have implications for the long-term development of the country. This study’s findings indicate that women’s empowerment should be a deliberate part of the development agenda in Nepal. Although the country has been moving in this direction, the its pace and magnitude needs to be increased, especially to make up for the significant discrimination women have suffered in the past.
Footnotes
Declaration of conflicting interests
The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.