Type
Text
Type
Dissertation
Advisor
Burroway, Rebekah | Shandra, John M | Meinzen-Dick, Ruth. | Schwartz, Michael
Date
2014-12-01
Keywords
CEDAW, child mortality, gender mainstreaming, health aid, maternal mortality, Sub-Saharan Africa | Sociology
Department
Department of Sociology.
Language
en_US
Source
This work is sponsored by the Stony Brook University Graduate School in compliance with the requirements for completion of degree.
Identifier
http://hdl.handle.net/11401/76828
Publisher
The Graduate School, Stony Brook University: Stony Brook, NY.
Format
application/pdf
Abstract
A substantive body of sociological literature has found that women's status is correlated with improved maternal and child health outcomes in developing countries, and accordingly, proposes policy recommendations for ending discrimination against women. Yet, the sociological literature has not engaged adequately with policy models for improving women's status. I address this gap in the literature by conducting the first cross-national quantitative analysis of gender mainstreaming -the global strategy adopted in 1995 by United Nations member countries for fostering gender equality. Specifically, the dissertation uses two-way fixed effects ordinary least squares regression to estimate the effects of gender-mainstreamed bilateral health aid, national women's machineries (NWM), and state commitment to the Convention on All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) on maternal, infant, and child mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa from 1995 to 2010. In doing so, I aim to answer the following research question: is gender mainstreaming an effective policy model for improving women's and children's health? First, I test the hypothesis that interventions which fail to mainstream gender may erode well-being or at best fail to improve it. I find that while gender-absent health aid to Sub-Saharan Africa does not adversely affect women's and children's health, neither is it associated with reductions in maternal, infant, and child mortality. In contrast, higher levels of gender-mainstreamed health aid are associated with lower levels of maternal, infant, and child mortality. Second, I examine whether the institutional location of NWMs is an important predictor of their efficacy and find that, regardless of where they are located, NWMs do not improve women's and children's health. Finally, I explore the relationship between state commitment to CEDAW and maternal and child health, finding that higher levels of commitment correspond with lower levels of maternal mortality but not infant or child mortality. While a growing consensus has emerged among feminists that gender mainstreaming has failed to improve the well-being of women and children, this dissertation provides evidence that gender mainstreaming is effective when stakeholders are committed to its implementation. However, because gender mainstreaming is often implemented weakly, greater attention should be paid to resistance to gender mainstreaming among stakeholders. | 168 pages
Recommended Citation
Pandolfelli, Lauren, "The Effects of Gender Mainstreaming on Maternal and Child Health: A Cross-National Analysis of Sub-Saharan Africa" (2014). Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions). 2704.
https://commons.library.stonybrook.edu/stony-brook-theses-and-dissertations-collection/2704