Female Employment and Fertility: Further Investigation of an Ambivalent Association

Zeba A. Sathar and Shahnaz Kazi
Additional contact information
Zeba A. Sathar: Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, Islamabad.
Shahnaz Kazi: Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, Islamabad.

The Pakistan Development Review, 1989, vol. 28, issue 3, 175-194

Abstract: This study of the relationship between female employment and fertility is based on a survey of 1000 ever-married women in Karachi. A distinct pattern of differentials in actual performance and in desired fertility is observed across working and non-working women. Working women are not a homogeneous group, and the differences across six broad occupational groups of working women are more marked than those between working and non-working women. Women in higher status occupations marry much later than and have half the completed family size of — those women working in lower status occupations. The fertility of non-working women lies somewhere in between these two groups. Some reasons for the fertility differentials found are identified in variations in point of entry into the labour force relative to the stage in child-bearing, in expectations from sons in old age support, and in relative facility in seeking means of fertility control. Working women in higher status occupations also have better chances of their children surviving, whereas women in lower status occupations suffer a greater toll of child deaths.

Date: 1989
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.pide.org.pk/pdf/PDR/1989/Volume3/175-194.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pid:journl:v:28:y:1989:i:3:p:175-194

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in The Pakistan Development Review from Pakistan Institute of Development Economics Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Khurram Iqbal ().