Schooling opportunities for girls as a stimulus for fertility change in rural Pakistan

• Published in: Economic development and cultural change 2003-04, Vol.51 (3), p.677-698
• Main Authors: Sathar, Zeba A, Lloyd, Cynthia B, Mete, Cem, Haque, Minhaj ul
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Allgemein bildende Schule; Birth Control; Children; Children & youth; Communities; Community schools; Contraception; Costs; Couples; Cultural change; Desire; Development studies; Economic conditions; Economic development; Education; Educational Opportunities; Elementary school students; Elementary schools; Enrollments; Families & family life; Family Planning; Family size; Fertility; Fruchtbarkeit; Girls; Girls education; Ländlicher Raum; Multivariate analysis; Mädchen; Pakistan; Parents & parenting; Primary Education; Private schools; Public schools; Rural areas; Schooling; Secondary schools; Sexual Inequality; Shadow prices; Social change; Studies; Villages; Women
• ISSN: 0013-0079; 1539-2988
• DOI: 10.1086/375519

This paper explores many possible factors explaining the diversity of family-building experiences prevalent in rural Pakistan using primary data collected for this purpose in rural Punjab and Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP). The goal was to visit a range of rural villages or communities that reflect diverse socioeconomic and schooling conditions to explore the possible links between the schooling environment at the community level and family-building patterns. The results of a multivariate analysis are presented. Opportunities for primary schooling in the community clearly play a role in influencing the fertility transition in rural Pakistan. In particular, gender equity in the schooling environment, as measure d by the ratio of the number of girls' public primary schools to boys' public primary schools, has a statistically significant effect on the probability that a woman will express a desire to stop childbearing and, by extension, on the probability that she will operationalize those desires by practicing contraception.