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. 2022 Apr;18(2):e13325.
doi: 10.1111/mcn.13325. Epub 2022 Jan 25.

Maternal and paternal involvement in complementary feeding in Kaduna State, Nigeria: The continuum of gender roles in urban and rural settings

Diana Allotey  1 , Valerie L Flax  2 , Abiodun Ipadeola  3 , Sarah Kwasu  4 , Margaret E Bentley  1 , Beamlak Worku  1 , Keerti Kalluru  1 , Carmina G Valle  1 , Sujata Bose  5 , Stephanie L Martin  1
Affiliations

Maternal and paternal involvement in complementary feeding in Kaduna State, Nigeria: The continuum of gender roles in urban and rural settings

Diana Allotey et al. Matern Child Nutr. 2022 Apr.

Abstract

Household gender roles influence infant and young child feeding behaviours and may contribute to suboptimal complementary feeding practices through inequitable household decision-making, intra-household food allocation and limited paternal support for resources and caregiving. In Igabi local government area of Kaduna State, Nigeria, the Alive & Thrive (A&T) initiative implemented an intervention to improve complementary feeding practices through father engagement. This study describes household gender roles among A&T participants and how they influence maternal and paternal involvement in complementary feeding. We conducted 16 focus group discussions with mothers and fathers of children aged 6-23 months in urban and rural administrative wards and analysed them using qualitative thematic analysis methods. Most mothers and fathers have traditional roles with fathers as 'providers' and 'supervisors' and mothers as 'caregivers'. Traditional normative roles of fathers limit their involvement in 'hands-on' activities, which support feeding and caring for children. Less traditional normative roles, whereby some mothers contributed to the provision of resources and some fathers contributed to caregiving, were also described by some participants and were more salient in the urban wards. In the rural wards, more fathers expressed resistance to fathers playing less traditional roles. Fathers who participated in caregiving tasks reported respect from their children, strong family relationships and had healthy home environments. Our research findings point to the need for more context-specific approaches that address prevalent gender normative roles in complementary feeding in a variety of settings.

Keywords: Nigeria; caregivers; child; fathers; focus groups; gender role; mothers.

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Conflict of interest statement

SK and SB are employed by Alive & Thrive. They were involved in the implementation and evaluation of the intervention in Nigeria, but not in data collection or analysis for this study. All other authors report no conflict of interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Locations of the focus group discussions with fathers and mothers
Figure 2
Figure 2
Household gender roles of mothers and fathers in the Alive & Thrive Kaduna study
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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