Women’s empowerment and child health outcomes: a comparative study between India and Nigeria

Krishna Pandey, Banaras Hindu University
Asabe Ibrahim, Banaras Hindu University

The indicators of women’s empowerment and its relationship to child health practices were investigated in a sample of 22,462 children in Nigeria and 45,516 in India. We examined the indicators of empowerment in two areas such as women’s decision-making autonomy and their attitude towards wife beating. Similarly, we also considered the determinants of child health in three areas: Child’s immunisation status, mortality (child is alive or not), and nutritional status (stunted or not). The influence of women’s decision-making autonomy on the child health practices appears to be paramount for a child’s well-being. The study revealed that in both populations, older women with parity 0-2 have greater decision-making autonomy more than women in the lower age categories with higher parity. In both populations, the less proportion of middle age women justified wife beating. The study also revealed that most of the children in Nigeria and India were not fully immunized.