Women's status and fertility change in Pakistan

Abstract

Female education, workforce participation, and age at marriage are argued to be imperfect but workable indicators of women's status in Pakistan. All three measures are shown to be significant determinants of fertility in a survey of 1979-80. Similarly, age at marriage is related to female education and, in urban areas, to workforce participation. In addition, the education of the next generation of mothers is shown to depend on parental education, and in urban areas the discrimination against girls' education diminishes as the occupational and educational level of their parents increases. These differentials and their implications for future change are masked by the absence of national fertility decline. -Authors