Assessing the Impact of Female Labor Force Participation on Child Dietary Diversity in India: A Causal Analysis from the National Family Health Survey

Sripriya Reddy Medipally, Jawaharlal Nehru University
Indrani Roy Chowdhury, Jawaharlal Nehru University

Despite ongoing policy efforts to improve child and women’s well-being, India continues to face high rates of child undernutrition and a declining female labour force participation rate. This study explores the relationship between women’s employment and child dietary diversity in India, utilizing data from the fifth National Family Health Survey (NFHS) round (2019-21). The analysis focuses on children aged 6-23 months and uses binary indicators to measure child dietary diversity, whether they meet the minimum dietary diversity, meal frequency, and acceptable diet standards. The study uses the Control Function Method to address potential endogeneity, incorporating district-level women's unemployment rates from the Periodic Labor Force Survey (2019-20) and district-level literacy rates from NFHS data as instrumental variables. Findings reveal that the mother’s employment is positively and significantly associated with the child receiving minimum dietary diversity and minimum acceptable diet. However, while positive, the association with minimum meal frequency is not statistically significant. Additionally, the results indicate a strong positive relationship between women’s education, decision-making ability within the household, and child dietary diversity. The study underscores the need for policy interventions that promote female labour force participation, enhance women’s education, and strengthen their decision-making capabilities to combat child undernutrition in India.

Keywords: Gender Dynamics

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