Impact of maternal employment on child health and nutrition: Evidence from Nepal.

Abstract

The high prevalence of child undernutrition has detrimental consequences, including lower educational attainment and reduced lifetime earnings, thereby trapping many families in intergenerational poverty. Therefore, identifying the factors that influence child nutrition is an important policy issue. Using nationally representative data from Nepal, we investigate whether maternal employment improves child nutrition and growth, as measured by height-for-age, weight-for-age, and weight-for-height among children under five years of age. Applying coarsened exact matching and an instrumental variable approach, we find that maternal employment has no statistically significant effect on child nutritional outcomes. Maternal employment in Nepal may not improve child nutrition because income gains from predominantly informal work are offset by reduced time available for childcare and feeding. In addition, limited female bargaining power and control over household resources in patriarchal and gerontocratic households may weaken the link between maternal earnings and child health outcomes.