The Effects of Social Autonomy on BMI Scores: A Study of Women in Nepal (Table) (Report‪)‬

Gender differences in health and health care services have become the focus of an unprecedented mobilization of social resources and research in South Central Asia. Women in Nepal, India, and elsewhere in the region experience poorer health than men, and social factors, particularly inequities in status, account for these differences (Dreze and Sen 2002; DeRose, Das, and Millman 2000; Gittelsohn 1991). Accordingly, women's autonomy and self-empowerment have been central concepts in researching the relationship between women's social status and health. Although research in both western and non-western societies has demonstrated the positive effects of women's autonomy on quality of life in general and health in particular (Jun, Subramanian, Gortmaker, and Kawachi 2004; Kalipeni 2000), these studies have not defined autonomy consistently. Women's autonomy is often described operationally without consideration of autonomy as a broad, multi-dimensional concept. Studies typically have relied upon a varied number of indicators of autonomy without clarifying which facet of women's agency may be most salient in predicting women's quality of life. With this in mind, the purpose of this paper is twofold: first, we want to investigate the relationship between autonomy, using a broad operationalization of the term, and a specific and objective measure of health status (Body Mass Index (BMI)); and, second, we will compare the effects of different indicators of autonomy on BMI.