The Consequences of Female Empowerment for Child Well-Being: A Review of Concepts, Issues, and Evidence in a Post-Cairo Context

Abstract

Abstract In writing this chapter there are a number of difficult issues facing an author. What is female empowerment? How do we operationalize the concept for measurement purposes? How do we measure child well-being? Are associations the same as consequences? As a demographer writing for a demographic audience, what particular aspects of child well-being should be considered? In examining the links, how far can we go in using symptomatic indicators of female empowerment? For example, female empowerment is often seen as being a key factor in the increased resort to divorce in developed countries (although incomplete empowerment in the domestic domain may be a major source of tension). Can we then examine the consequences of divorce for children as being symptomatic consequences of female empowerment? Inevitably, I shall be forced to consider many such partial and symptomatic linkages.