Food Insecurity Among Single and Married Mothers in Nepal

Background and Purpose: Single mother families, women raising children by themselves has been slowly rising in developed and developing nations. This is due to a host of factors: increase in labor force participation and greater financial independence of women, a rise in divorce rates, and increased social acceptance of births outside of marriage (United Nations, 2015). In the U.S., one in four children resides in a family headed by a single woman. The proportion of single-mother families is increasing even in countries like Russia where state support for single mothers has declined over time. As women are concentrated in lower paid jobs and earn less than men, female-headed households with children have a higher risk of poverty. Women’s economic vulnerability and food insecurity adversely affect their children’s health and well-being.  This study examines the risk and protective factors associated with food insecurity among single and married mothers with children in Nepal. We use human capital theory to understand the impact of women’s education on their food insecurity. We assume that women’s education determines the nature of employment they may successfully compete for, and their immediate and future earnings.

Method: We analyzed 2011 Nepal Demographic and Health Survey data, nationally representative data that interviewed 12,674 women between 15 and 49 years of age, of which 8,529 were married mothers and 341 were single mothers (widows, divorced, separated, or never married). A set of seven indicators were used to assess their food insecurity in the past 12 months. They included: how often women worried about not having enough food, could not eat preferred food, ate a limited variety due to lack of resources, ate smaller amount because of not enough food to go around, ate fewer meals in a day, had no food to eat, and went hungry to bed. Predictor variables included demographics, education, wealth, and assets ownership.  We ran two multiple logistic regressions to understand the factors that explained food insecurity among single and married mothers. 

Results: Overall, 66% and 52% of the single and married mother households experienced food insecurity respectively. For the model with single mother families, the significant risk factors for food insecurity included belonging to low a caste Hindu community and residing in Far-Western Region. Protective factors for food security included women’s education and household wealth. For married women, low caste Hindu status and urban residence were risk factors and their education, wealth, and property ownership were protective factors. 

Implications: Single mothers in Nepal are more vulnerable to food insecurity than their married counterparts. Women’s education and household wealth served as protective factors for both single and married mothers. As the proportion of single-mother families with children increase, social workers should engage in the design of policies that focus on women’s human capital development and policies that protect them from becoming food insecure irrespective of their marital status such as generous children’s allowances. 

Reference:

United Nations. (2015). The World’s Women 2015: Trends and Statistics. Retrieved from http://unstats.un.org/unsd/gender/downloads/WorldsWomen2015_report.pdf.