IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/applec/45y2013i14p1903-1913.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Mother's autonomy: impact on the quality of children's healthcare in India

Author

Listed:
  • Richard Grabowski
  • Sharmistha Self

Abstract

Given the poor condition of children's health in developing countries, this article seeks to examine two hypotheses concerning healthcare for children. First, does mother's autonomy influence the quality of child healthcare and, second, which is related to the first, whether mother's autonomy reduces the apparent gender bias in child healthcare. Using household survey data from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh in India the article finds that for the most part as the mother's autonomy (measured several different ways) increases, the quality of care for children improves. The results also indicate that gender bias exists in the provision of quality healthcare for children. Male children generally receive better quality care. However, for several measures of female autonomy, an increase in such autonomy reduces the bias. The results of this analysis have important policy implications and provide additional insight into the state of affairs of children's health in rural India.

Suggested Citation

  • Richard Grabowski & Sharmistha Self, 2013. "Mother's autonomy: impact on the quality of children's healthcare in India," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(14), pages 1903-1913, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:applec:45:y:2013:i:14:p:1903-1913
    DOI: 10.1080/00036846.2011.637899
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/00036846.2011.637899
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/00036846.2011.637899?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dreze, Jean & Sen, Amartya, 2002. "India: Development and Participation," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, edition 2, number 9780199257492.
    2. Jejeebhoy, Shireen J., 1995. "Women's Education, Autonomy, and Reproductive Behaviour: Experience from Developing Countries," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198290339.
    3. Borooah, Vani, 2009. "Maternal Literacy and Child Malnutrition in India," MPRA Paper 19833, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ana Vaz & Pierre Pratley & Sabina Alkire, 2016. "Measuring Women's Autonomy in Chad Using the Relative Autonomy Index," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(1), pages 264-294, January.
    2. Federica Alfani & Fabio Clementi & Michele Fabiani & Vasco Molini & Enzo Valentini, 2024. "Does gender equality in labor participation bring equality? Evidence from developing and developed countries," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 67(1), pages 289-311, July.
    3. Shatanjaya Dasgupta, 2016. "Son Preference and Gender Gaps in Child Nutrition: Does the Level of Female Autonomy Matter?," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(2), pages 375-386, May.
    4. Astutik, Erni & Efendi, Ferry & Sebayang, Susy Katikana & Hadisuyatmana, Setho & Has, Eka Mishbahatul Marah & Kuswanto, Heri, 2020. "Association between women’s empowerment and diarrhea in children under two years in Indonesia," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Angus Deaton & Jean Dreze, 2008. "Nutrition in India: Facts and Interpretations," Working Papers 1071, Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Research Program in Development Studies..
    2. Vizard, Polly, 2005. "The contributions of Professor Amartya Sen in the field of human rights," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 6273, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. Clots-Figueras, Irma, 2011. "Women in politics: Evidence from the Indian States," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(7-8), pages 664-690, August.
    4. Hera Cook, 2000. "Unseemly and unwomanly behaviour: Comparing women’s control of their fertility in Australia and England from 1890 to 1970," Journal of Population Research, Springer, vol. 17(2), pages 125-141, November.
    5. Lionel Kesztenbaum & Jean-Laurent Rosenthal, 2014. "Income versus Sanitation; Mortality Decline in Paris, 1880-1914," PSE Working Papers halshs-01018594, HAL.
    6. Gulati, Namrata & Ray, Tridip, 2016. "Inequality, neighbourhoods and welfare of the poor," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 214-228.
    7. Cassan, Guilhem, 2019. "Affirmative action, education and gender: Evidence from India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 51-70.
    8. Teresa Bago d'Uva & Maarten Lindeboom & Owen O'Donnell & Eddy van Doorslaer, 2011. "Education‐related inequity in healthcare with heterogeneous reporting of health," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 174(3), pages 639-664, July.
    9. Prabir C. Bhattacharya, 2006. "Economic Development, Gender Inequality, and Demographic Outcomes: Evidence from India," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 32(2), pages 263-292, June.
    10. Maddox, Bryan, 2007. "Worlds Apart? Ethnographic Reflections on "Effective Literacy" and Intrahousehold Externalities," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 532-541, March.
    11. Gasper, D.R., 2006. "What is the capability approach?: its core, rationale, partners and dangers," ISS Working Papers - General Series 19187, International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam (ISS), The Hague.
    12. Cheng, Chao-yo & Urpelainen, Johannes, 2014. "Fuel stacking in India: Changes in the cooking and lighting mix, 1987–2010," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 306-317.
    13. Stephan Klasen & Janneke Pieters, 2015. "What Explains the Stagnation of Female Labor Force Participation in Urban India?," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 29(3), pages 449-478.
    14. Tesfalidet Tekelab & Catherine Chojenta & Roger Smith & Deborah Loxton, 2019. "Factors affecting utilization of antenatal care in Ethiopia: A systematic review and meta-analysis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(4), pages 1-24, April.
    15. Ajit K. Dalal, 2010. "Disability–Poverty Nexus," Psychology and Developing Societies, , vol. 22(2), pages 409-437, September.
    16. Negi, Chander Mohan, 2021. "Structural Transformation of Agriculture in Himachal Pradesh," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 315389, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    17. Gaël Giraud & Cécile Renouard & Hélène L'Huillier & Raphaële de La Martinière & Camille Sutter, 2012. "Relational Capability: A Multidimensional Approach," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) halshs-00827690, HAL.
    18. Zeba Ayesha Sathar & Shahnaz Kazi, 2000. "Women’s Autonomy in the Context of Rural Pakistan," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 39(2), pages 89-110.
    19. Josep Colomer & Humberto Llavador, 2012. "An agenda-setting model of electoral competition," SERIEs: Journal of the Spanish Economic Association, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 3(1), pages 73-93, March.
    20. Klasen, Stephan & Pieters, Janneke, 2012. "Push or Pull? Drivers of Female Labor Force Participation during India's Economic Boom," IZA Discussion Papers 6395, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:applec:45:y:2013:i:14:p:1903-1913. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/RAEC20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.