MATERNAL LABOR SUPPLY AND CHILD NUTRITION IN WEST-AFRICA

It is widely recognized that women in developing countries have dual r oles as generators of household income and as primary caregivers to th eir children. Many policies directed at reducing poverty or malnutriti on involve one or the other of these roles. Programs to reduce child m alnutrition, for example, typically target mothers as caregivers. Howe ver, because of the time constraints women face, there are potential c onflicts between women's different activities about which policy maker s are rarely informed. Nutrition interventions have not usually consid ered the barriers to participation in such programs facing mothers who , either by choice or necessity, have entered the labour force (Leslie , 1988; Engle, 1994). Similarly, policies directed at improving female employment opportunities typically ignore women's important role in h ousehold activities related to children's healthy development. In this paper we address a potentially important implication of women's multi ple roles and the time constraints they face: that female labour force participation, by reducing the time available for household activitie s related to child development, may glace young children at nutritiona l risk.