Pergamon 0277-9536(95)00426-2 Soc. Sci. Med. Vol.43, No. 4, pp. 479-488, 1996 Copyright © 1996Elsevier Science Ltd Printed in Great Britain.All rights reserved 0277-9636/96$15.00 + 0.00 THE INFLUENCE OF MALE CARE GIVERS ON CHILD HEALTH IN RURAL HAITI ROBIN B. DEVIN l and PAMELA I. ERICKSON 2 ~Universityof Rhode Island Library, 15 Lippitt Road, Kingston, RI 02881, U.S.A. and 2Department of Anthropology, Beach Hall Box U-176, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269, U.S.A. Abstract--This study examines the relationship between a woman's workload and the health of her pre-school children aged 24-59 months. The role of gender of alternate care givers when the woman is away from home is the specific focus of the research. Interviews were conducted with 106 women in rural Haiti, 44% of whom had malnourished children. Factors which significantly discriminated between normal and malnourished nutritional status were birth space between the index child and its next oldest sibling, number of children in the home, roof type (a proxy for socioeconomicstatus), and having a male substitute care giver. Further multivariate analysis produced a model which demonstrated that having a male care giver exacerbated the effect of birth space on nutrition status. Further research is necessary to determine characteristics of substitute care givers and their impact on nutritional status and child health in less developed countries. This is particularly important in light of the increased economic pressure on Third World rural women to work outside the home in order to meet the basic needs of their families. Copyright © 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd Key words--women's work, child nutrition, child care, rural Haiti INTRODUCTION The impact of a woman's work on the health of her young children has been the subject of numerous research studies conducted throughout the less devel- oped world. This research has indicated that the inc~ased income resulting from a woman's employ- ment may translate into an improved nutritional status for her children. On the other hand, a decrease in the time available for child care may result in a decline in her children's health status. Leslie provides an excellent summary of the literature in her article "Women's work and child nutrition in the Third World" [1]. Other more recent articles such as Lado's review of the agricultural workload of African women and its effect on the health of their families [2], Wandal and Holmboe-Ottesen's research on maternal work and child nutrition in Tanzania [3], and Rabiee and Geissler's study in rural Iran [4] continue this research. Although researchers have become acutely aware of the relationships between women's domestic and non-domestic work routines and their caretaking activities in relation to small children [5-9] and maternal time allocation has been included as a factor in recent models of the household production of health [10], few studies have specifically focused on the child care arrangements of the working women of the Third World. In 1977 Weisner and Gallimore provided cross-cultural data on child caretaking and reported that the great majority (80%) of young children are not cared for principally by their mothers [11]. Yet in a recent review of the litera- ture on child care arrangements of working mothers in the Third World, Joekes reports that the "surprising finding of this survey of the literature is that empirical information is scarce and scattered concerning how young children are cared for in Third World countries.... There is no coherent body of research to be assessed .... The topic has not been considered in depth within any of the rel- evant social science or biomedical disciplines" [12] (p. 59). The few studies that Joekes is able to cite in her review of the role of substitute care givers seem to indicate that child care appears to be more or less exclusively a female activity. Research has indicated that adult male household members play a minimal role, although pre-adolescent male siblings may take on some child care tasks. The most frequent substi- tute care givers in less developed countries are grand- mothers, older female siblings and other female relatives [12]. Little is known about the male role in child care in the developing world. The influence of the father on child development is currently a focus of numerous studies in the United States as evidenced in Biller's recent review of research findings [13]. This research has noted the positive impact of increased male parental involvement, particularly on psychological and social development. But few studies have exam- ined the role of the father in relation to child care in non-industrial societies. Notable exceptions are Katz and Konner's review of the role of the father [14] and Hewlett's recent compilation of fieldwork on father-child relations [15]. These studies examine either male parental investment in children from a biosocial perspective or focus on cultural factors 479