The Impact of Maternal Work Participation on Duration of Breastfeeding among Poor Women in South India

Sivakami Muthusamy, Institute for Social and Economic Change

This paper seeks to examine the impact of mother’s work participation on duration of breastfeeding among poor women in south India. The effect of work status at the time of breastfeeding on the risk of terminating breastfeeding is also analysed because work status at the time is relevant rather than work status at or just before the survey. The data are from a survey of 529 women in urban slums and rural Scheduled Caste settlements in Tamil Nadu, India. Proportional hazards analysis showed that the risk of stopping breastfeeding is significantly higher among working women than among non-working women in urban areas. But in rural areas, mother’s work participation does not show any significant effect on stopping breastfeeding. Proportional hazards analysis with work participation as a Time-Dependent Covariate confirms these results. Thus, the labour force participation of women is incompatible with breastfeeding in urban areas but not in rural areas.