Women Empowerment and Child Obesity: Evidence in Comoros, Malawi, and Mozambique

Many countries in sub-Saharan Africa are experiencing an increase in the prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity, even though many countries are still grappling with the persistence of child malnutrition. A quarter of all obese and overweight preschool-aged children live in the region. There is, however, a gap in research on child obesity in African countries, and particularly on how mothers’ empowerment (either through employment or decision-making in the household) might affect this. This chapter fills this gap by applying a mixed-effects binary logistic regression model on nationally representative data from three countries in sub-Saharan Africa with particularly high levels of child obesity. This study finds different relationships between women’s empowerment and child obesity in different countries, pointing to the importance of further study in Africa to better identify the mechanisms driving these links. A better understanding of these relationships will not only help to inform policies aimed at empowering women in Africa but also assist in ensuring the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals that promote the improvement of child nutrition (SDG 2) and the achievement of gender equality (SDG 5).