Exploring the association between women’s empowerment and household dietary diversity in rural Armenia: a cross-sectional analysis

Women’s empowerment plays a critical role in improving household dietary diversity. Empowered women have greater control over resources, information, and decision-making regarding nutrition, leading to healthier dietary practices for their families. This study investigates the association between women’s empowerment and household dietary diversity in rural Vayots Dzor, Armenia. Using Oxfam database, a cross-sectional analysis utilized data from 350 women residing in the Vayots Dzor region. Women’s empowerment was assessed across multiple dimensions: social capital, economic empowerment, information and communication technology access, decision-making power, attitudes towards gender roles and leadership, and public event participation. Household dietary diversity was measured using an adapted Household Dietary Diversity Score, which encompasses six key food groups. Descriptive statistics and binomial regression models were employed to analyze the data and identify relationships between variables. Findings from the regression analyses showed a positive association between women’s empowerment dimensions and household dietary diversity. The adjusted regression model indicated that women with low social capital (OR = 0.409; 95% CI = 0.235–0.713) had low household dietary diversity score. Additionally, shared decision-making within families increased the likelihood of high diversity (OR = 2.481; 95% CI = 1.143–5.384). This study underscores the need for multifaceted approaches to women’s empowerment to support improved household dietary outcomes. While causal inference is limited by the cross-sectional design, the findings suggest that policies integrating women’s participation in household decision-making with broader social and economic support mechanisms may help enhance dietary diversity in rural settings. Further research is needed to evaluate context-specific empowerment interventions and their pathways to improving food security and gender equality.