Women's Empowerment and Nutrition: An Evidence Review

80 Pages Posted: 21 Oct 2013

See all articles by Mara van den Bold

Mara van den Bold

International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)

Agnes R. Quisumbing

International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)

Stuart Gillespie

A member of the CGIAR Consortium - International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)

Date Written: September 1, 2013

Abstract

Many development programs that aim to alleviate poverty and improve investments in human capital consider women’s empowerment a key pathway by which to achieve impact and often target women as their main beneficiaries. Despite this, women’s empowerment dimensions are often not rigorously measured and are at times merely assumed. This paper starts by reflecting on the concept and measurement of women’s empowerment and then reviews some of the structural interventions that aim to influence underlying gender norms in society and eradicate gender discrimination. It then proceeds to review the evidence of the impact of three types of interventions — cash transfer programs, agricultural interventions, and microfinance programs — on women’s empowerment, nutrition, or both.

Qualitative evidence on conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs generally points to positive impacts on women’s empowerment, although quantitative research findings are more heterogenous. CCT programs produce mixed results on long-term nutritional status, and very limited evidence exists of their impacts on micronutrient status. The little evidence available on unconditional cash transfers (UCT) indicates mixed impacts on women’s empowerment and positive impacts on nutrition; however, recent reviews comparing CCT and UCT programs have found little difference in terms of their effects on stunting and they have found that conditionality is less important than other factors, such as access to healthcare and child age and sex. Evidence of cash transfer program impacts depending on the gender of the transfer recipient or on the conditionality is also mixed, although CCTs with non-health conditionalities seem to have negative impacts on nutritional status. The impacts of programs based on the gender of the transfer recipient show mixed results, but almost no experimental evidence exists of testing gender-differentiated impacts of a single program.

Keywords: Agriculture, Cash transfers, Empowerment, Gender, Microfinance, Nutrition, Women, Women's empowerment

Suggested Citation

van den Bold, Mara and Quisumbing, Agnes R. and Gillespie, Stuart, Women's Empowerment and Nutrition: An Evidence Review (September 1, 2013). IFPRI Discussion Paper 01294, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2343160 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2343160

Mara Van den Bold (Contact Author)

International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) ( email )

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HOME PAGE: http://www.ifpri.org

Agnes R. Quisumbing

International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) ( email )

1201 Eye St, NW,
Washington, DC 20005
United States

Stuart Gillespie

A member of the CGIAR Consortium - International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) ( email )

1201 Eye St, NW,
Washington, DC 20005
United States
202-862-8179 (Phone)
202-467-4439 (Fax)

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