Last updated on May 24, 2015
[A]n important factor is the relatively poor health of young Indian women. More than 90 percent of adolescent Indian girls are anemic, a crucial measure of poor nutrition. And while researchers have long known that Indian mothers tend to be less healthy than their African counterparts, a new study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences demonstrates that the disparity is far worse than previously believed.
By analyzing census data, Diane Coffey of Princeton University found that 42 percent of Indian mothers are underweight. The figure for sub-Saharan Africa is 16.5 percent.
Ms. Coffey calculated that the average woman in India weighs less at the end of her pregnancy than the average woman in sub-Saharan Africa did at the beginning, an astonishing finding.
“In India, people are richer, better educated and have fewer children than those in sub-Saharan Africa, so it’s really surprising that Indian children are shorter and smaller than those in sub-Saharan Africa,” Ms. Coffey said in an interview. “But when you step back and look at the state of Indian mothers, it’s not such a surprise after all.”
Research has shown that genetics play no role in the size differences, leaving environmental factors as the only explanation, Ms. Coffey said.
The reasons for Indian mothers’ relatively poor health are many, including a culture that discriminates against them. Sex differences in education, employment outside the home, and infant mortality are all greater in India than in Africa.
That is from an article published last week in the New York Times. And boy, does the New York Times‘ love of evidence-based wishful thinking ever shine through here, because never mind the fact that India has the lowest rate of meat consumption in the world, that meat is the best source of iron, the lack of which causes anemia… No no no: Indian women are anemic and underweight because… discrimination!
This is especially surprising considering the fact that Coffey’s PNAS article is much more balanced, and concludes that
Although certainly important, discrimination against young women is not the only reason why maternal health is so poor. Indeed, India’s most recent DHS shows that the prevalence of underweight is 25% among men aged 40-50; these are the household members with the highest intrahousehold status.
You mean underweight affects everyone in India? Gee, I wonder if that could be due to an overall poor diet that is too low in protein and fats and too high in carbohydrates rather than to the New York Times‘ discrimination bugaboo!
Look, discrimination against women is a problem in India. But it is also a problem in Africa, where the DHS routinely include questions about domestic violence, given how widespread it is, and where studies of intrahousehold allocations also show that women get the short end of the stick when it comes to food and nutrients.
To immediately jump to conclusions and blame discrimination when there are much more powerful explanations does a huge disservice to social science. This is especially disheartening coming from the so-called “newspaper of record” in this country–a newspaper whose readers pride themselves on their critical thinking skills and on their love of “evidence-based” everything.