Women Economic Empowerment as Determinant of Child Health Outcomes in the Philippines

The leave no one behind principle of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) highlights the need to accelerate and strengthen the efforts of the United Nations (UN) members states to empower one of the world’s biggest marginalized groups – the women. Studies examining SDG 5 for Gender Equality and Women Empowerment has been emerging, due to its argued positive ‘spillover effect’ on the achievement of other goals such as the SDG 3 for good health and wellbeing. Grounded on Chiappori’s Collective Model (1988) which rejects the Unitary Neoclassical Model of the Household and recognizes the role of intrahousehold resource allocation and bargaining power in household decisions, this study examined the influence of women’s economic empowerment (SDG 5) on the health and wellbeing of their children (SDG 3). A multivariate logistic regression was used to determine if women’s economic empowerment, represented by education, employment and intrahousehold bargaining power, corresponds to antenatal visits, childhood immunization, and under-5 mortality as child health outcomes of the 2017 Philippine National Demographic and Health Survey. The results showed that the more economically empowered women expect better health outcomes for their children. For instance, better-educated women consistently showed a higher probability of acquiring adequate antenatal care, complete childhood immunization, and a lower probability of experiencing under-5 mortality. Employment, on the other hand, positively influences the acquisition of antenatal care and complete childhood immunization, but also a higher probability of under-5 death. Among the socio-economic and empowerment variables examined, women’s educational attainment was found to be the most significant protective factor in all child health outcomes. Thus, the government may continue the implementation and improve the strategies to equalize access to education for all such as its provision of Free Technical-Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act of 2017 (RA 10931). Keywords: Bargaining Power, Child Health Outcomes, Intra-Household Resource Allocation, Women’s Economic Empowerment, Women’s Education DOI : 10.7176/JESD/15-7-04 Publication date : July 30th 2024