abstract: The objective of this dissertation is to investigate the association of mother's autonomy and male labor migration with child's health and education, taking into account possible differences by child's gender. The dissertation uses data from a household longitudinal survey conducted in rural southern Mozambique in 2006, 2009 and 2011 to address three main questions: 1) Is decision-making autonomy associated with child's schooling and child mortality? 2) Is father's labor migration associated with children's health outcomes? 3) If so, do these relationships change by gender of the child? The dissertation makes three main contributions to the literature. First, it finds a significant effect of mother's decision-making autonomy on child's outcomes, independent of other characteristics related to women's status. Second, it illustrates the cumulative nature of the effect of father's labor migration on the health of children left behind. And finally, the dissertation shows that women's decision-making autonomy and male migration affect children's outcomes differently depending on the gender of the child and on the outcome being analyzed. The dissertation is structured in five chapters. The first chapter gives an introductory overview of women's autonomy and male migration as determinants of children's outcomes, and presents the setting. The second chapter examines the relationship between mother's decision-making autonomy and enrollment for primary school-age children. Results show a positive association of women's decision-making autonomy with the probability of being enrolled for daughters, but not for sons. The effect of women's decision-making autonomy is net of other characteristics associated with autonomy. The third chapter analyzes the association of mother's decision-making autonomy and under-five child mortality. Results show a positive effect women's decision-making autonomy for sons' survival chances. The fourth chapter examines the effect of father's labor migration on health of children left behind. Results indicate that a proportion of child's life spent away by the father has a negative effect on the child's chances of being stunted but that it also decreases the likelihood of the child receiving age-adequate immunization. These results are gendered as the effect of father's migration on both outcomes is significant only for daughters. Chapter five presents the concluding remarks. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Sociology 2014

This dissertation examines women's lives in a rapidly urbanizing rural community in Southern Pakistan to understand their responses to modernity in developing societies. Applying a mixed-methods approach, socio-demographic data is collected and contrasted with oral history and personal narratives to analyze social change through women's access to education and reproductive health care in the village. The results are framed within a post-modern and post-colonial feminist anthropological discourse to reveal that Sheherpind represents a model of 'multiple modernities' where women's agency and progress could only be contextualized in non-western, local cultural perspectives. Emerging trends in the village are evaluated for their 'Applied' significance to underscore areas of local, national and transnational policy significance. / Graduation date: 2013

Background: India has the highest number of undernourished children worldwide. Understanding trends, predictors, and consequences of child undernutrition is important to inform strategy for addressing this public health crisis. Methods: We used data from four National Family Health Surveys (1992-93, 1998-99, 2005-6, 2015-16 NFHS) to examine trends of undernutrition before and after the 2005 implementation of the National Rural Health Mission, India’s flagship public health initiative (Aim 1). We used the 2016 NFHS to build a predictive model that identifies infants at-risk for child undernutrition (Aim 2). Lastly, we used data from the 2005 and 2012 India Human Development Surveys to investigate the consequences of early childhood undernutrition (Aim 3). Results: NRHM was more effective at addressing acute than chronic undernutrition but its prioritization on high focus states resulted in an increase of acute undernutrition among children living in normal focus states. We demonstrate that it is feasible to predict 5-year risk of child undernutrition at the time of birth. Child undernutrition is associated with adverse physical and cognitive outcomes during pre-adolescent years, with female undernourished children experiencing the worst outcomes. Higher female education in the household helps overcome gender and nutrition-based disadvantage among Indian children. Conclusion: There is an urgent need to reduce nutrition-related disparities among Indian children. Short-term strategy could include a predictive model that can be used to more effectively provide resources and intervention to the most disadvantaged population. Long term strategy should focus on elevating women’s status through improved female education in India.