IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/poprpr/v36y2017i4d10.1007_s11113-017-9427-3.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Women’s Agency and Fertility: Recent Evidence from Egypt

Author

Listed:
  • Goleen Samari

    (University of Texas at Austin)

Abstract

Fertility reached a two decade high of 3.5 births per woman in Egypt in 2014. Lower status of women is associated with higher fertility. Majority of the studies on women’s agency and fertility rely on individual-level cross-sectional data from South Asia, which limits the understanding of variation among communities and the direction of the relationship between women’s agency and fertility in other global contexts. This study examines the relationship between women’s agency and fertility longitudinally and among communities in the most populous country in the Middle East-Egypt. For 3795 ever married women 15–49 years old in the 2006 and 2012 Egyptian Labor Market Panel Survey, multilevel models are estimated for having given birth and number of births between 2006 and 2012. Contrary to expectation, women with more agency with greater participation in household decision-making and mobility are, in fact, more likely to have had a birth and have a greater total number of births. Only women with more egalitarian attitudes are associated with fewer births. Community membership explains 5% of the variation in fertility. Since social norms in Egypt favor a higher number of births and labor market participation among women is low, women with agency could be fulfilling social expectations of having children and choosing to have more children.

Suggested Citation

  • Goleen Samari, 2017. "Women’s Agency and Fertility: Recent Evidence from Egypt," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 36(4), pages 561-582, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:poprpr:v:36:y:2017:i:4:d:10.1007_s11113-017-9427-3
    DOI: 10.1007/s11113-017-9427-3
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11113-017-9427-3
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11113-017-9427-3?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Peter McDonald, 2000. "Gender Equity in Theories of Fertility Transition," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 26(3), pages 427-439, September.
    2. S. Philip Morgan & Sharon Stash & Herbert L. Smith & Karen Oppenheim Mason, 2002. "Muslim and Non‐Muslim Differences in Female Autonomy and Fertility: Evidence from Four Asian Countries," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 28(3), pages 515-537, September.
    3. Mumtaz, Zubia & Salway, Sarah, 2005. "'I never go anywhere': extricating the links between women's mobility and uptake of reproductive health services in Pakistan," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 60(8), pages 1751-1765, April.
    4. Shireen J. Jejeebhoy & Zeba A. Sathar, 2001. "Women's Autonomy in India and Pakistan: The Influence of Religion and Region," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 27(4), pages 687-712, December.
    5. Bertoli, Simone & Marchetta, Francesca, 2015. "Bringing It All Back Home – Return Migration and Fertility Choices," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 27-40.
    6. Ruhul Amin & Robert B. Hill & Yiping Li, 1995. "Poor Women's Participation in Credit-based Self-employment: The Impact on their Empowerment, Fertility, Contraceptive Use, and Fertility Desire in Rural Bangladesh," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 34(2), pages 93-119.
    7. Mukesh Eswaran, 2002. "The empowerment of women, fertility, and child mortality: Towards a theoretical analysis," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 15(3), pages 433-454.
    8. Ragui Assaad & Caroline Krafft, 2013. "The Egypt labor market panel survey: introducing the 2012 round," IZA Journal of Labor & Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 2(1), pages 1-30, December.
    9. Keera Allendorf, 2012. "Women’s Agency and the Quality of Family Relationships in India," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 31(2), pages 187-206, April.
    10. Upadhyay, Ushma D. & Hindin, Michelle J., 2005. "Do higher status and more autonomous women have longer birth intervals?: Results from Cebu, Philippines," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 60(11), pages 2641-2655, June.
    11. Soiliou Namoro & Rania Roushdy, 2009. "Intrahousehold Resource Allocation in Egypt: Women Empowerment and Investment in Children," Middle East Development Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 1(1), pages 105-121, January.
    12. Abadian, Sousan, 1996. "Women's autonomy and its impact on fertility," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 24(12), pages 1793-1809, December.
    13. Karen Mason & Herbert Smith, 2000. "Husbands’ versus wives’ fertility goals and use of contraception: The influence of gender context in five Asian countries," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 37(3), pages 299-311, August.
    14. Ragui Assaad & Hanan Nazier & Rasha Ramadan, 2015. "Empowerment is a Community Affair: Community Level Determinants of Married Women's Empowerment in Egypt," Working Papers 959, Economic Research Forum, revised Oct 2015.
    15. Kathryn Yount & Zeinab Khadr, 2008. "Gender, Social Change, and Living Arrangements Among Older Egyptians During the 1990s," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 27(2), pages 201-225, April.
    16. Soiliou Namoro & Rania Roushdy, 2009. "Intrahousehold Resource Allocation In Egypt: Women Empowerment And Investment In Children," Middle East Development Journal (MEDJ), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 1(01), pages 105-121.
    17. Khan, H. T. Abdullah & Raeside, Robert, 1997. "Factors affecting the most recent fertility rates in urban-rural Bangladesh," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 44(3), pages 279-289, February.
    18. Simone Bertoli & Francesca Marchetta, 2015. "Bringing It All Back Home – Return Migration and Fertility Choices," Post-Print halshs-01141668, HAL.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kumo, Kazuhiro & Perugini, Cristiano, 2023. "Religion, Ideology and Fertility," IZA Discussion Papers 16159, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Raisul Akram & Abdur Razzaque Sarker & Nurnabi Sheikh & Nausad Ali & MGN Mozumder & Marufa Sultana, 2020. "Factors associated with unmet fertility desire and perceptions of ideal family size among women in Bangladesh: Insights from a nationwide Demographic and Health Survey," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(5), pages 1-17, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mahé, Clothilde, 2016. "Skills and entrepreneurship: Are return migrants 'Jacks-of-all-trades'?," MERIT Working Papers 2016-071, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    2. Nelly Elmallakh & Jackline Wahba, 2022. "Return migrants and the wage premium: does the legal status of migrants matter?," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 35(4), pages 1631-1685, October.
    3. Atamanov, Aziz, 2015. "Heterogeneous impact of traveling to Western countries on gender norms in Middle East and North Africa countries," MPRA Paper 68122, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Paul Rotering & Hilde Bras, 2019. "The age difference between spouses and reproduction in 19th century Sweden," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 41(37), pages 1059-1090.
    5. Ragui Assaad & Caroline Krafft, 2013. "The Egypt labor market panel survey: introducing the 2012 round," IZA Journal of Labor & Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 2(1), pages 1-30, December.
    6. Krafft Caroline & Assaad Ragui & Rahman Khandker Wahedur, 2021. "Introducing the Egypt Labor Market Panel Survey 2018," IZA Journal of Development and Migration, Sciendo & Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 12(1), pages 1-40, January.
    7. Mahe, Clotilde, 2017. "Husbands' return migration and wives' occupational choices," MERIT Working Papers 2017-031, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    8. Lee-Rife, Susan M., 2010. "Women's empowerment and reproductive experiences over the lifecourse," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(3), pages 634-642, August.
    9. Ragui Assaad & Hanan Nazier & Racha Ramadan, 2014. "Individual and Households Determinants of Women Empowerment: Application to the Case of Egypt," Working Papers 867, Economic Research Forum, revised Nov 2014.
    10. Mahe, Clotilde, 2017. "Occupational choice of return migrants: Is there a 'Jack-of-all-trades' effect?," MERIT Working Papers 2017-039, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    11. El-Mallakh, Nelly & Wahba, Jackline, 2021. "Upward or downward: Occupational mobility and return migration," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    12. Ragui Assaad & Hanan Nazier & Rasha Ramadan, 2015. "Empowerment is a Community Affair: Community Level Determinants of Married Women's Empowerment in Egypt," Working Papers 959, Economic Research Forum, revised Oct 2015.
    13. Ferrant, Gaëlle & Tuccio, Michele, 2015. "South–South Migration and Discrimination Against Women in Social Institutions: A Two-way Relationship," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 240-254.
    14. Robin A. Richardson, 2018. "Measuring Women’s Empowerment: A Critical Review of Current Practices and Recommendations for Researchers," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 137(2), pages 539-557, June.
    15. Elena Ambrosetti & Aurora Angeli & Marco Novelli, 2021. "Childbearing intentions among Egyptian men and women: The role of gender-equitable attitudes and women’s empowerment," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 44(51), pages 1229-1270.
    16. Connie Bayudan-Dacuycuy, 2013. "The Influence of Living with Parents on Women's Decision-Making Participation in the Household: Evidence from the Southern Philippines," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(5), pages 641-656, May.
    17. Astrid Sneyers & Anneleen Vandeplas, 2013. "Girl Power in Agricultural Production: How Much Does it Yield? A Case-Study on the Dairy Sector in India," Working Papers id:5562, eSocialSciences.
    18. Jackline Wahba, 2021. "Who benefits from return migration to developing countries?," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 123-123, December.
    19. Elisabetta Lodigiani & Sara Salomone, 2015. "Migration-induced Transfers of Norms. Political Empowerment?The case of Female Political Empowerment," Working Papers 2015:19, Department of Economics, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari".
    20. Artjoms Ivlevs & Roswitha M. King, 2014. "Emigration, remittances and corruption experience of those staying behind," Working Papers 20141411, Department of Accounting, Economics and Finance, Bristol Business School, University of the West of England, Bristol.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:poprpr:v:36:y:2017:i:4:d:10.1007_s11113-017-9427-3. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.