Fertility and Empowerment

In this paper we analyze the relationship between fertility decline, and changes in women’s lives, gender equality and gender relations in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu over the last 40-50 years. Using secondary quantitative analysis, published and unpublished quantitative and qualitative research, and interviews with experts, we examine how fertility decline in Tamil Nadu manifested in changes in the social and economic value of children, the shift from a focus on having a large quantity of children to investing more in fewer children, and the shrinkage of women’s lifespan devoted to childbearing. In turn, we explore how these changes have influenced specific domains of women’s lives, gender equality and gender relations.  We also describe how Tamil Nadu’s history of progressive social activism, combined with economic poverty until recently, has influenced these dynamics.  We find that, following fertility decline, women’s lives have improved in the realms of higher education, marriage spousal choice, and – to some extent – employment opportunities.  Gender inequality also has decreased in education and employment. However, these changes have yet to lead to notable shifts in societal gender relations and norms, as manifested in marriage practices, dowry, and intimate partner violence.

The literature documenting drastic fertility declines in developing countries has largely focused on investigating the determinants of contraceptive use and the role contraceptives have played in declining fertility rates. In contrast, there has been limited research on the impact of family planning use on women’s social status. Using retrospective data from the 2009 Tehran Fertility Survey, this study examined the impact of contraceptive use on women’s educational advancement as an indicator of women’s empowerment. Multinomial logistic analyses indicated that compared with contraceptive nonusers, women using modern contraceptives before a first birth were more likely to experience a one to two year increase in education level after marriage, when controlling for other factors. Women in the most recent marriage cohorts were more likely to continue their education after marriage, especially those who were using modern contraceptives as opposed to traditional methods. Findings of this research clearly indicate that family planning use after marriage enables women to improve their education by freeing them from reproductive activities. 

This study investigates the hypothesis that fertility decline fosters changes in gender equality by investigating macro-level patterns of fertility decline relative to changes in the labor and education sectors using national-level time-series data from approximately 30 low- and middle-income countries. We examine the temporal ordering of changes in women's labor force participation and fertility, overall and for women ages 25-34, as well as the relative labor force dynamics of men and women to determine if fertility decline preceded changes in these domains and whether the dynamics of the gender gap suggest changing opportunity structures for women. We then examine trends in women’s and men’s educational attainment relative to aggregate fertility decline, focusing on secondary and tertiary education to reflect shifts in the level of schooling most likely to empower women and representing significant parental and societal investments in women and girls. We find that gaps between men's and women's labor force participation and post-primary education narrowed following declines in aggregate fertility, and sometimes concurrently. Thus the analysis lends qualified support for the hypothesis that fertility decline fosters shifts in the gender dynamics of two key domains.

This research is part of the Fertility & Empowerment Network Working Paper Series, which is examining whether and to what extent increasingly smaller family sizes in lower and middle income countries have empowered women or resulted in fundamental transformations in inequitable gender systems.

This paper explores the consequences of the recent dramatic fertility decline in China by examining the effects of sibship size and composition on inequality in socioeconomic achievement between men and women.  Drawing primarily from the China General Social Survey, the authors' findings suggest that women from families with more siblings are more disadvantaged both in terms of their schooling and their job status. 

The abstract is available here. This research is part of a series of empirical studies from the Fertility and Empowerment Network, which is examining whether and to what extent increasingly smaller family sizes in lower and middle income countries have empowered women or resulted in fundamental transformations in inequitable gender systems.

This study assesses the impact of contraceptive use and delayed childbearing on urban married women’s ability to seek educational and employment opportunities after marriage in Tehran.  The paper examines trends across three marriage cohorts, based on a 2009 survey collected by the author examining birth and contraceptive histories and education and employment status of husbands and wives over the life-course.