ABSTRACT
A direct way in which women’s status affects health outcomes is through biological mechanisms. For instance, in the context of child health, one of the most obvious ways in which women’s status affects children is through the impact of the mother’s health on the child she bears. It is well established that a malnourished mother gives birth to a low-birthweight baby. A low-birthweight baby has greater chances of being a malnourished adult and in case of girls will in turn give birth to malnourished children. Therefore the poor nutrition status of women results in an intergenerational cycle of malnutrition (Martorell et al. 1998; Ramakrishnan et al. 1999). Malnutrition, further, is one of the leading causes of child death and illness in developing countries like India (Pelletier et al. 1995; UNICEF 1998; WHO 1998).
