Women Empowerment and Child Survival

The dual role of women in developing countries, both as income earner and family care provider has emerged as an important issue in the discussion on women empowerment. This research examined the relationship between women¿s economic roles and child survival in south India by using National Family and Health Survey round 3 (NFHS 3) data of 2005-06 and NFHS 2 of 1998-99.Appropriate statistics and econometrics methods are used to answer the research questions and to test the hypothesis. To identify the causation between economic roles of women and child survival, the Cox Proportional Hazard model is used. In the present analysis all the determinants of infant and child mortality are considered along with the factors related to women¿s economic roles. The mortality of infant and child is found to depend on environmental, biological, socio- economic and behavioural factors. The employment status of women is proved to be a significant determinant of child mortality. Children of employed mothers are more vulnerable to mortality than non employed mothers.