Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2014 Aug:115:111-20.
doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.06.014. Epub 2014 Jun 11.

Women's empowerment and fertility: a review of the literature

Ushma D Upadhyay  1 , Jessica D Gipson  2 , Mellissa Withers  3 , Shayna Lewis  4 , Erica J Ciaraldi  5 , Ashley Fraser  6 , Megan J Huchko  7 , Ndola Prata  8
Affiliations
Review

Women's empowerment and fertility: a review of the literature

Ushma D Upadhyay et al. Soc Sci Med. 2014 Aug.

Abstract

Women's empowerment has become a focal point for development efforts worldwide and there is a need for an updated, critical assessment of the existing evidence on women's empowerment and fertility. We conducted a literature review on studies examining the relationships between women's empowerment and several fertility-related topics. Among the 60 studies identified for this review, the majority were conducted in South Asia (n = 35) and used household decision-making as a measure of empowerment (n = 37). Overall, the vast majority of studies found some positive associations between women's empowerment and lower fertility, longer birth intervals, and lower rates of unintended pregnancy, but there was some variation in results. In many studies, results differed based on the measure of empowerment used, sociopolitical or gender environment, or sub-population studied. This article is one of the first evaluations of the literature assessing the relationships between women's empowerment and fertility. We identify several key issues that merit further investigation.

Keywords: Abortion; Birth spacing; Fertility; Gender; Ideal family size; Number of children; Unintended pregnancy; Women's empowerment.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flow chart of literature search.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Distribution of articles by region (n = 60).
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Distribution of articles by fertility topic. Note: studies may include multiple topics.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Abada T, Tenkorang EY. Women’s autonomy and unintended pregnancies in the Philippines. J. Biosoc. Sci. 2012;44:703–718. - PubMed
    1. Abadian S. Women’s autonomy and its impact on fertility. World Dev. 1996;24:1793–1809.
    1. Adak DK, Bharati P. Position of women in the Ladiya society: demographic perspectives. Coll. Antropol. 2011;35:319–324. - PubMed
    1. Agarwala R, Lynch SM. Refining the measurement of women’s autonomy: an international application of a multi-dimensional construct. Soc. Forces. 2006;84:2077–2098.
    1. Aghajanian A. Status of women and fertility in Iran. J. Comp. Fam. Stud. 1992;23:361–374.

Publication types