Bride Price and Fertility Decisions: Evidence from Rural Senegal

This paper provides evidence about the relationship between bride price payments and fertility decisions in Senegal. Higher bride price payments reduce the fertility pressure for women with results being robust to confounding socio-economic and contextual factors. The fertility-reducing impact is gr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of development studies 2017-06, Vol.53 (6), p.891-910
Main Authors: Mbaye, Linguère Mously, Wagner, Natascha
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Arranged marriage
Decisions
Economic factors
Empowerment
Female roles
Females
Fertility
Households
Husbands
Payments
Rural areas
Senegal
Socioeconomic factors
Traditional societies
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Summary:This paper provides evidence about the relationship between bride price payments and fertility decisions in Senegal. Higher bride price payments reduce the fertility pressure for women with results being robust to confounding socio-economic and contextual factors. The fertility-reducing impact is greater for women who are economically dependent on their husbands. In polygamous households and for arranged marriages, a lower bride price increases fertility pressure while in monogamous households and for non-arranged marriages, the bride price does not affect fertility. As bride price payments have less power over (economically) independent women, empowerment will give leeway to girls in traditional societies.
ISSN:0022-0388
1743-9140
DOI:10.1080/00220388.2016.1208178