Women’s Agency, Cultural Beliefs, and Health Right in Maternal Nutrition in Indonesia

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-525-6_53How to use a DOI?

Keywords

women’s right to health; maternal and child nutrition; cultural beliefs; gender equality; Southeast Asia

Abstract

The achievement of the right to health depends heavily on women’s participation in maternal and child health, yet cultural beliefs, institutional obstacles, and unequal gendered expectations frequently limit their agency. This qualitative study examines, from a human rights perspective, how Indonesian mothers negotiate health knowledge, caregiving techniques, and community support in connection to maternal well-being and stunting prevention. The results, which are based on in-depth interviews with twenty-seven participants in East Java Province, including mothers, health professionals, and posyandu cadres, show that women actively exercise agency by looking to midwives, online resources, and intergenerational networks for reliable information. However, enduring misconceptions about breastfeeding, dietary restrictions, and iron supplements still compromise the efficacy and legitimacy of health treatments. Although health workers and cadres play a vital role in providing education, tracking development, and supporting maternal nutrition, they are constrained by infrastructure, human resources, and the viability of their programs. These difficulties reveal weaknesses in the state’s ability to meet its responsibilities under CEDAW and ICESCR to guarantee the availability, acceptability, accessibility, and quality (AAAQ) of healthcare services. The interaction of women’s agency, cultural values, and structural injustices is reminiscent of trends seen in Cambodia, the Philippines, and other Southeast Asian nations. This study emphasizes that mother and child nutrition is a basic human rights issue as well as a public health one, necessitating interventions that are gender-responsive, culturally sensitive, and rights-based. Maternal and child health equity in Southeast Asia can be accelerated by bolstering women’s health agency through inclusive education, intergenerational communication, digital access, and regional collaboration.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Netty Dyah Kurniasari
AU  - Iriani Ismail
AU  - Prita Adellia
AU  - Ana Tsalitsatun Ni’mah
AU  - Yuliana Rakhmawati
AU  - Iswari Hariastuti
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/12/31
TI  - Women’s Agency, Cultural Beliefs, and Health Right in Maternal Nutrition in Indonesia
BT  - Proceedings of International Conference on Neuroscience and Learning Technology (ICONSATIN 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 575
EP  - 593
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-525-6_53
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-525-6_53
ID  - Kurniasari2025
ER  -