Off‐farm employment and body mass index among agrarian women in sub‐Saharan Africa

Abstract

The relationship between employment and women's weight outcomes in sub‐Saharan Africa (SSA) is less studied. In this study, we use nearest‐neighbor matching to analyze the association between off‐farm employment and women's body mass index (BMI), using data from 364,426 adult women from 36 SSA countries. We find that employment off‐farm is associated with improvement in women's weight status. Off‐farm employment is associated with higher BMI in women (by 1.6%), and lower BMI among obese and overweight women (by 28% and 16%, respectively). These findings provide information that could guide policymakers working at the intersection of women's health and employment.