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UNITED NATIONS NEWS: Children suffer when mother lacks input-UNICEF

Children suffer when mother lacks input-UNICEF By Evelyn Leopold

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Children are likely to be undernourished in
households where women are denied a voice in family decisions like doctor
visits, food expenditures and trips to see friends and relatives, says a
report by the U.N. Children's Fund, UNICEF, released on Monday.

Tracing the life cycle of women, the report said eliminating discrimination
against women has a profound impact on the survival and well-being of boys
and girls.

"When woman are empowered to lead full and productive lives, children and
families prosper," said Ann Veneman, UNICEF's executive director in
releasing the agency's flagship report, timed for its 60th anniversary.

A growing body of evidence, the survey said, shows that where women cannot
make basic decisions on income and other family needs or leave the home at
will, their children suffer in proper nourishment, education levels and
health care.

In West and Central Africa, when resources are scarce, women spend 74
percent of available funds on food while men spend just 22 percent of
available funds on food, it said.

But in only 10 of the 30 developing countries surveyed did 50 percent or
more of women participate in all household decisions, including those
concerning their own health care, purchases, spending and visits with
relatives and family.

These included women in Zimbabwe, Philippines, Indonesia, Armenia,
Turkmenistan, Colombia, Peru, Haiti, Bolivia and Egypt. However, in Burkina
Faso, Mali and Nigeria, almost 75 percent of women said their husbands alone
make decisions regarding health, UNICEF said.

The study concluded that if men and women had equal influence in
decision-making, the incidents of underweight children from birth to 3 years
old in South Asia would fall by up to 13 percent, resulting in
13.4 million fewer undernourished children. For sub-Saharan Africa, an
additional 1.7 million children would be adequately nourished.

Discrimination begins early, with a clear preference for sons, which
indicates aborting a female foetus or killing a girl infant after birth.
China and India, the world's most populous countries report an unusually
high proportion of male children under 5 years of age, the report said.

During school years, for every 100 boys out of school, 115 girls are not in
the classroom. Educated women are more likely to insist their children
attend school.

Only 43 percent of girls in the developing world attend secondary school,
which often correlates with a lack of knowledge about sexual health and
AIDS.

Early marriage also hinders women's health.

An estimated 14 million adolescent girls between 15 and 19 give birth each
year. The chance of dying in the first year after birth for babies born to
girls under 18 is 60 percent greater than that of babies born to women in
their 20s.

And girls under 15 are five times as likely to die during pregnancy or
childbirth than women older than 19 years.

But the survey steered away from an explicit call for family planning, such
as birth control to space children of teen-age brides.

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Last updated: 11-Dec-06 00:12 GMT