Other
A Qualitative Assessment of Gender Roles and Implications for Child Nutrition in Central Malawi
Elizabeth Mkandawire, Clement Bisai, Elizabeth Dyke, Anne E. Dressel, Hazel Kantayeni et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This qualitative study in rural Central Malawi explored how gender roles affect child nutrition. Researchers conducted focus group discussions and interviews with community members to understand men's and women's contributions to children's food security and health. The study found that women carry most of the work related to feeding, caring for, and supporting children's health, while men's involvement is limited. Women's heavy workloads sometimes prevent them from meeting children's nutritional needs. Although some communities showed men taking on traditionally female roles, this did not necessarily give women more power in household decisions about money and food.
Key points
- Women carry a disproportionate workload in supporting child nutrition compared to men
- Women's heavy workloads often prevented them from meeting children's food needs
- Both men and women were involved in productive, reproductive, and community work, but the burden fell unevenly
- Some communities showed shifts in gender roles with men taking responsibilities traditionally associated with women
- Changes in role division did not necessarily increase women's household decision-making power or control over income
Limitations
This is a qualitative study based on focus group discussions and interviews, so findings cannot be generalised numerically or statistically across Malawi or beyond. The study describes perceptions and experiences but does not measure actual nutritional outcomes for children or test interventions to improve nutrition.
Abstract
Abstract Child malnutrition persists globally. While progress in reducing stunting has been witnessed over the last six years, this progress is not sufficient to meet Sustainable Development Goal targets on stunting. In Africa, child malnutrition is estimated to result in between 1.6 to 16% losses in gross domestic product. Undernutrition is also attributed as a cause of death for 11% of African children aged five years and below. Men and women play distinct roles in supporting a child's nutrition. Women frequently carry the bulk of the workload related to food, care, and health, all of which are critical factors in child nutrition. Using focus group discussions and individual interviews with communities in rural Central Malawi, we sought to understand the roles played by men and women in achieving child nutrition in this qualitative study. We found that both men and women were involved in productive, reproductive, and community work. However, consistent with the literature, women carried a disproportionate workload in supporting child nutrition compared to men. Women's heavier workloads often prevented them from being able to meet children's food needs. Nevertheless, shifts in gender roles were observed in some of the sampled communities, with men taking up responsibilities that have been typically associated with women. This undoing of gender roles did not necessarily increase women's power within the household. Improving gender equality and child nutrition will require efforts to redistribute gendered work and encourage men to move towards shared power over household decision-making and control over income with women.