Socioeconomic Determinants of Women's Empowerment and Child Nutrition in Urban Pakistan

Background: The importance of women's empowerment in enhancing child feeding outcomes has been acknowledged. Nevertheless, there is a lack of research on the influence of socioeconomic determinants on women's empowerment and its consequent effect on child nutrition in urban Pakistan. Methods: This research used a cross-sectional design and analyzed data from 420 pairs of mothers and children in Karachi, Pakistan. The assessment of women's empowerment included calculating an aggregate score that took into account decision-making authority, attitudes towards domestic violence, and measures of economic empowerment. The World Health Organization (WHO) growth criteria were used to categorize the nutritional condition of children as stunted, wasted, underweight, or overweight. A multivariate logistic regression analysis was conducted to investigate the correlation between socioeconomic characteristics, women's empowerment, and children's nutritional status. Findings: Women's empowerment showed a favorable correlation with higher levels of maternal education, professional career, and household asset ownership. mothers who were empowered had a far greater likelihood of having well-nourished children (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 2.14, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.42-3.22) compared to mothers who were not empowered, even after taking into account socioeconomic characteristics. Conclusion: This research emphasizes the significance of socioeconomic variables in shaping the empowerment of women and the resulting effects on child nutrition outcomes in urban Pakistan. Attempts to enhance women's education, economic prospects, and family wealth may lead to an increase in women's empowerment and, as a result, an improvement in child nutrition.