Mohammad Jalal Abbasi-Shavazi; Zohreh Khajehsalehi
Abstract
Like many developed and developing societies, Iran has experienced sharp fertility declineand reached below- replacement level fertility. As women have a major role in childbearing,their empowerment and autonomy will lead to changes in their fertility behavior, and manystudies have focused on various ...
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Like many developed and developing societies, Iran has experienced sharp fertility declineand reached below- replacement level fertility. As women have a major role in childbearing,their empowerment and autonomy will lead to changes in their fertility behavior, and manystudies have focused on various aspects of women's autonomy and fertility. This paperexamines the relationship between women’s autonomy and fertility behavior in theSirjan city.The data is drawn from the 2011 survey that collected information from around 400 womenof reproductive ages (15-49) in the Sirjan city in southeastern part of Iran. The results showedthat the relationship between women’s autonomy and fertility is insignificant when othersocial and economicindicators (i.e. social participation, education and employment) arecontrolled. The results of the logistic regression analysis indicated that among all differentvariables, social participation of women and their education level are the strong determinantsof dependent variable; as childbearing intention reduces with the rise in these two variables.Women’s age and children ever born are the other two important variables affectingchildbearing intentions. Given the results of this study, population policies in Iran in order tofacilitate childbearing for couples should provide opportunities in which women could be ableto continue their education, have their social participation as well as promoting childbearing.
Hatam Hosseini; Belal Bagi
Abstract
Widespread changes in women’s roles in society, in turn, leads to their increasing participation in the social arena, therefore, by increasing women’s autonomy in different aspects of life, they are more likely to reach to higher positions and status than they were in earlier decades. This situation ...
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Widespread changes in women’s roles in society, in turn, leads to their increasing participation in the social arena, therefore, by increasing women’s autonomy in different aspects of life, they are more likely to reach to higher positions and status than they were in earlier decades. This situation provides the context for changes in fertility ideals (fertility behavior, desires, and ideals) of women. The main objective of this paper is to investigate the effect of different indices of women’s autonomy on fertility behavior, desires, and ideals of Kurdish women in the city of Mahabad. Data was collected through a survey which was conducted in April 2012 on 700 households, and then analyzed using SPSS software.Results show that women have relative autonomy in all indices related to women’s autonomy. According to this study, at the time the survey was carried out, more than 61 percent of women stated that they were content with the number of offspring they had, and had no desire for further children. Among those who wanted to continue their childbearing, nearly 70 percent stated that, in the current situation, two children were ideal for a family. Results of Multiple Classification Analysis (MCA) showed that the fertility ideals and desires of women are affected respectively, by direct and indirect indices regarding women’s autonomy. Furthermore, although women’s fertility behavior is affected by three indices of women’s autonomy, nevertheless, using contraceptive devices along with other variables, play an important role in explaining women’s fertility behavior. According to the results of this study, it is not expected that population policies aimed at encouraging fertility, would lead to a fertility increase in all social strata.
