Fernanda Ewerling|John Lynch|Murthy Mittinty|Anita Raj|César G. Victora|Carolina V. N. Coll|Aluísio J. D. Barros
The impact of women’s empowerment on their children’s early development in 26 African countries
Universidade Federal de Pelotas|University of Bristol|University of Adelaide|University of Adelaide|Center for Health and Gender Equity|University of California, San Diego|Universidade Federal de Pelotas|Universidade Federal de Pelotas|Universidade Federal de Pelotas
impact womens empowerment childrens early development 26 african countries background every year 200 million children underfive years fail achieve full developmental potential lowand middleincome countries lmicsalthough womens empowerment associated improved child health development outcomes topic little studied lmicswe investigated associations womens empowerment early childhood development among sample population 84537 children aged 3659 months national health surveys 26 african countries methodswe used data demographic health surveys dhs multiple indicator cluster surveys mics ranging 2010 2018four developmental domains assessed among children using early childhood development index literacynumeracy physical learning socioemotionalwomens empowerment attitude violence social independence decisionmaking evaluated using swper global validated surveybased indexwe reported effect sizes country combined estimate associationthe study covers countries surveys region uses novel approach measuring womens empowerment swperresults across countries 151 children track literacynumeracy domain 923 physical 813 learning 678 socioemotionalthe odds child track literacynumeracy increased 34 odds ratio 134 95 confidence interval ci 13113788 188 95 ci 185191and 34 134 95 ci 129139with one standard deviation increase scores attitudes violence social independence decisionmaking domains empowerment respectivelyno effect empowerment observed domains child development conclusionsour results show consistent positive effect empowerment literacynumeracy domain child development crossnationally africa particularly evident social independence domain swperprograms interventions may also consider addressing reduction gender inequalities improve child development