Effects of Maternal Empowerment on Childhood Undernutrition in Bangladesh: Findings from Nationally Representative Surveys

Background/Objectives: Empowered mothers are more likely to adopt recommended childcare practices, thereby contributing to reduced childhood undernutrition. However, the magnitude of the association between maternal empowerment and childhood undernutrition in Bangladesh has not been comprehensively assessed. This study aims to address this research gap. Methods: The Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS) 2017-18 and BDHS 2022 served as data sources. Maternal empowerment was assessed across three domains, e.g., attitude to violence, social independence, and decision making, using the Survey-based Women’s Empowerment (SWPER) index. The undernutrition status of children was assessed through z-score based indicators, including stunting (height-for-age z-score < −2 SD), wasting (weight-for-height z-score < −2 SD), and underweight (weight-for-age < −2 SD). Children with at least two and any of these undernutrition conditions were categorized as multiple undernutrition and any undernutrition, respectively. Multivariable logistic regression models were utilized to observe the survey-specific and pooled association between maternal empowerment and childhood undernutrition. Results: The analysis includes 11,647 mother–child pairs. The association between maternal empowerment and childhood undernutrition was consistent across individual surveys and the pooled sample, although the significance level varied by empowerment domains and undernutrition categories. Maternal social independence was found to be a significant protective factor against both multiple and any childhood undernutrition status in individual surveys and the pooled sample. For example, in the pooled sample, high maternal empowerment in the social independence domain was significantly associated with 18% (AOR: 0.82; 95% CI: 0.69, 0.98; p = 0.026) lower odds of multiple undernutrition statuses and 18% (AOR: 0.82; 95% CI: 0.71, 0.95; p = 0.009) lower odds of any undernutrition statuses than those of low maternal empowerment. Conclusions: Improving the status of maternal social independence can potentially result in reduced childhood undernutrition. The scope remains to cascade the benefits of the other two maternal empowerment domains, e.g., attitude to violence and decision making, to child nutrition in Bangladesh.