Women's social power, child nutrition and poverty in Mali.
While the macro-level association between poverty and child malnutrition is well-established, the concept of 'poverty' and its operationalization in terms of measures of socioeconomic status shed little or no light on the mechanisms through which malnutrition is created and/or prevented. This paper investigates a woman's social power, one such mechanism that may mediate the impact of poverty on childhood nutrition. This micro-level factor is examined using survey data on 402 children 5 years of age and younger and their 261 Fulbe mothers in rural Mali. A conceptual model of social power is developed and used to test the hypothesis that a mother's social power can predict her child's nutritional status.
Simon
Dominique
D
Health and Addictions Research Inc.,Boston, MA 02116, USA.
Adams
Alayne M
AM
Madhavan
Sangeetha
S
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000886:Anthropometry; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005195:Family Relations / Q000208:ethnology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008302:Mali; D008875:Middle Aged; D009748:Nutrition Disorders / Q000208:ethnology; D009752:Nutritional Status; D011203:Poverty / Q000208:ethnology*; D011209:Power, Psychological; D012944:Social Support; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014933:Women's Rights / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*