Maternal work, child feeding, and nutrition in rural Tanzania

Abstract

There appear to be opposing effects of women's agricultural work: one is the negative effect of time constraints on child care and feeding; the other is a positive effect on household food availability, which may influence child feeding and nutrition in a positive way. Both of these lines of argument are examined in a study in an area of Tanzania characterized by a net surplus of food and, at the same time, a fairly high frequency of child malnutrition. The authors find that the amount of mothers' field work does not seem to have a conclusive relationship to children's nutritional status. -from Authors