Female Employment Reduces Fertility in Rural Senegal

Abstract

Economic growth and modernization of society are generally associated with fertility rate decreases but which forces trigger this is unclear. In this paper we assess how fertility changes with increased labor market participation of women in rural Senegal. Evidence from high-income countries suggests that higher female employment rates lead to reduced fertility rates but evidence from developing countries at an early stage of demographic transition is largely absent. We concentrate on a rural area in northern Senegal where a recent boom in horticultural exports has been associated with a sudden increase in female off-farm employment. Using survey data we show that employed women have a significantly higher age at marriage and at first childbirth, and significantly fewer children. As causal identification strategy we use instrumental variable and difference-in-differences estimations, combined with propensity score matching. We find that female employment reduces the number of children per woman by 25%, and that this fertility-reducing effect is as large for poor as for non-poor women and larger for illiterate than for literate women. Results imply that female employment is a strong instrument for empowering rural women, reducing fertility rates and accelerating the demographic transition in poor countries. The effectiveness of family planning programs can increase if targeted to areas where female employment is increasing or to female employees directly because of a higher likelihood to reach women with low-fertility preferences. Our results show that changes in fertility preferences not necessarily result from a cultural evolution but can also be driven by sudden and individual changes in economic opportunities.

Determinants of Change in Fertility among Women in Rural Areas of Uganda

“…In Botswana, a study found that nonworking mothers had more number of children ever born than their working counterparts [38]. Relatedly, in women's participation in labor force was found to reduce fertility rates [39]. In Poland, work was found to have a direct effect on the number of births with women who work having more children than their counterparts who did not work [3].…”

Socioeconomic Status and Fertility Decline in Burkina Faso, 2003-2015

“…In Chinese context, the type of women's employment is a factor that affected women's fertility intentions: workers, civil/professionals, and business managers had the lowest fertility intentions, whereas farmers had the highest fertility intentions (Zheng and al., 2016). Many studies in developed countries found a negative relationship between fertility and women's labor force participation (Van and Maertens, 2015;Michaud & Tatsiramos, 2011). However, evidence of negative effect of the number of children on women's labor force participation from developing countries at an early stage of demographic transition is less consistent (Agüero & Marks, 2008).…”

“…In fact, employed women have a higher opportunity cost of raising children, and substitute productive labor for reproductive labor. This substitution effect results in decreased fertility (Van, 2015). Another mechanism of women's occupation on fertility is women's empowerment.…”

Bride Price and Fertility Decisions: Evidence from Rural Senegal

“…A study by Beguy (2009) suggests that women's participation in the labour market is not associated with a decline in fertility in the city of Dakar. In turn, in rural, northern Senegal an increase in female off-farm labour due to a boom in horticulture exports led to a lower fertility rate (Van den Broeck & Maertens, 2015).…”