Are a woman's educational level and the fertility rate related? What about becoming more educated reduces a woman's desire for children? Are children undesirable once a woman can fill a void in her life with work and information? What role does autonomy play in this relationship? Does a man's education level have the same affects on fertility levels? This paper analyzes the relationship between the education of women and fertility levels. Though most researchers have found theoretical and empirical evidence that in general shows that increased education among woman leads to a lower fertility rate, this relationship is a non-linear function and, instead, is highly influenced by other factors (Diamond, 23). This paper uses the information found in the three essays, Why does Education Lead to Lower Fertility? A Critical Review of Some of the Possibilities by Alaka Basu, Fertility, Education, and Development: Evidence from India by Jean Drèze and Mamta Murthi, and Ian Diamond's essay Female Education and Fertility: Examining the Links, to examine and further understand this complex relationship.
This paper is divided into four sections. The first section will present
the general attitudes and opinions surrounding the relationship between
a woman's education and the fertility rate. The second section will look
at the institution of education and media and as well as the role that marriage
plays in the relationship between female education and fertility, specifically
helping in justifying the general claims. The third section looks at the
specifics of a study conducted in South Asia that provides empirical evidence
to the theoretical assumption of the relationship between a woman's education
and the fertility rate. The last section summarizes the paper.
General Information
Researchers have long been studying the possible causes for the decline
in the fertility rates of the developing world. Despite a plethora of conclusions,
most researchers have related this decline to the increase in education
for women in developing countries (Basu, 1779). Further they have related
this to increased status in the family and community this added gender equality
has aided in the reduction of the fertility rate (Basu, 1779). Therefore,
the general assumption is that increased education for women and gender
equality lead to a declination in the fertility rate. Yet, as stated earlier
this relationship is complex and affected by the various exceptions to this
pattern. The most common exception to this pattern is when increased education
levels among women have not affected the fertility rate. Though the relationship
is mostly negatively correlated, earlier studies have found exception which
show that at very high and very low levels of education among women the
relationship is positively correlated (Diamond, 23). These two indicators
ultimately lead to increased female autonomy within the community. A woman's
confidences and ability to take control of her life decisions can be attributed
to an increase in her educational status by providing a woman with the skill
sets to make a more educated and informed decisions and become strong in
the face of adversity, sexism, and community and familial opposition (Basu,
1779). Thus, gender equality represented by education is at the crux of
the education and fertility relationship. However, other mechanisms contribute
to this relationship.
Education, Marriage, and Media
In the essay entitled Why does Education Lead to Lower Fertility? A Critical
Review of Possibilities, Alaka Basu creates an introspective analysis of
factors other than increased gender equality that add to this correlation.
Basu suggests that in many developing countries education towards women
can exacerbate the problem of inequalities because the content taught to
women differs and is often inferior to the content taught to men. Further
the essay suggests that the schooling offered to women in these developing
areas is unrelated to a woman's ability to be a successful mother or family
planner; it instead teaches girls qualities such as discipline, self restraint,
and obedience of authority (Basu, 1780). Therefore, Basu proposes that it
is not the education, increased literacy aside, but the act of going to
school that has a negative impact on the fertility rate. The act of going
to school, getting out of the home, and interacting with peers as well as
the act of learning and not what is learned that affects a female's confidence.
This confidence is could be seen as translated into the development of the
educated woman as both a mother and a family planner and ultimately leads
to the decrease of the fertility rate (Basu, 1780)
.
Additionally, Basu uses the institution of marriage to isolate the issue
of the declining fertility rates being based on an increase in a woman's
education level. This relates back to the issue of a woman's autonomy. Studies
have shown that woman who are more educated have more autonomy and freedom
to make decisions on a personal, domestic, or external level. Thus, Basu
states, that this increase in autonomy leads to greater reproductive autonomy
(Basu, 1781). Previous studies have established that educated women marry
equally if not more educated men whereas educated men will either marry
equally educated or not-educated women. Through these conclusions, studies
have been conducted which show that men's education levels have little to
no effect on fertility rates.
Further, Basu examines how an increase in education affects a declining
fertility rate. This conclusion stems from a three part trajectory. It is
a fact that recurring contact with media is a strong forecaster of the populations'
attitudes towards fertility, contraceptive use, and family size. Also, a
woman's exposure to media is increased with an increase in education (Basu,
1785). Therefore, with increased education a woman has more access to mass
media and will in turn learn more about family planning and contraceptive
use which will negatively affect the fertility rate.
The Relationship between Fertility and Education in India
In Fertility, Education, and Development: Evidence from India, Jean Drèze
and Mamta Murthi look at the quantitatively relationship between increased
education for females and fertility in India. In the 1970's India took an
authoritative approach to family planning which failed and ultimately cost
Indira Gandhi her position as prime minister. However, since then many Indian
states have been able to successfully incorporate non-authoritarian approaches
to family planning and controlled population development (Drèze,
34). Due to ambiguity in the direction of causation between educated woman
and fertility rates, Drèze dissects the fertility rate to look specifically
at the weight increased female education has on family size, the connection
between family size and planned births, and the means of achieving the planned
number of births (Drèze, 35). Drèze's initial theoretical
conclusions coincide with those presented by Diamond and Basu. First, increased
female education results in increase autonomy of the woman in determining
the family size. Second, in order to reach the desired family size mothers
can plan on fewer births, due to the relationship between increased female
educations with decreased child mortality. Last, in agreement with Basu,
Drèze increased female education results in increased access to information
regarding contraceptives and autonomy in making the decisions regarding
family planning (Drèze, 35). Also, increased education will lead
to increased labor force participation and thus decrease the fertility rate.
In this particular study the nature of fertility in India is analyzed using
cross-sectional time series data. The manipulation of the data points to
women's educational levels as one of the crucial factors affecting fertility
rate differences across different districts and regions during a ten year
period beginning in 1981 and ending in 1991 (Drèze, 35). They create
a statistical analysis which looks how the dependent variable, district-level
total fertility rate (TFR), is affected by independent variables such as
female literacy, male literacy, poverty, urbanization, scheduled castes,
scheduled tribes, religion, son preference, as well as a few dummy variables.
Specifically, the independent variable for female literacy refers to the
percentage of women older than fifteen that are literate and ultimately
constitutes female education (Drèze, 40). The results of the regression
show that, in India, female literacy or education has a negative impact
on the Total Fertility Rate and the coefficient for the variable is highly
significant (Drèze, 46). Therefore, through an empirical analysis
of India, Drèze shows that female education has a significant, negative
effect on the fertility rate. Further, this study corrects any possible
sources of error by creating a robust regression which establishes a direct
link between female education and fertility (Drèze, 54).
Conclusion
In conclusion, the literature discussed in this paper establishes a correlation
between a woman's educational level and the fertility rate. Basu, Drèze,
and Diamond all provide sociological, empirical, and theoretical evidence
that this relationship actually exists. This paper was divided into three
parts which analyzed the complexity and external results of this relationship.
The first section provided general information about the relationship between
a female's education level and the fertility rate. The second section discusses
the theoretical and sociological reasons for the relationship between a
female's education and the fertility rate. The third section analyzes an
empirical study conducted in India which regresses female education on the
total fertility rate.
Diamond, Ian, (1999), "Female Education and Fertility: Examining the Links", in Critical Perspectives on Schooling and Fertility in the Developing World, Committee on Population, National Research Council, Washington D.C., National Academy Press.
Dreze, Jean; Murthi, Mamta (2001), "Fertility, Education, and Development:
Evidence from India", Population and Development Review v27,
n1 (March 2001): 33-63.
Basu, Alaka Malwade, (2002), "Why Does Education Lead to Lower Fertility?
A Critical Review of Some of the Possibilities", World Development
v30, n10 (October 2002): 1779-1790.