Women's unique role as mothers and care-givers, coupled with their marginalization in South Asian societies makes for a compelling case for empowering women to improve the nutrition and well-being of entire households. Evidence shows that women earners are likely to make more pro-nutrition consumption choices for the households. However, usually women have limited agency and decision making authority in the household where a woman's income may be entitled to the household. For women’s income to be a factor in influencing consumption choices and nutrition outcomes, there needs to be acknowledgement within the family that a particular income stream does belong to a woman. Therefore it is important to recognize and acknowledge the contribution of women's paid work in the household which in turn may also have empowerment effects for the woman.
Amna Akhtar