Female labor force participation and fertility: some methodological and theoretical considerations
Fong, M.S.
Social Biology 23(1): 45-54
1976
ISSN/ISBN: 0037-766X PMID: 959858 DOI: 10.1080/19485565.1976.9988202Document Number: 238342
Although female employment and fertility are generally inversely related in already developed countries, no clear association has been found in the developing economies. The absence of a uniform relationship is related to the problems of measurement for both variable s. Consequently, it is suggested that a better understanding of the relationship between fertility and employment for women can be obtained by giving consideration to: 1) the ecological or individual level of analysis, 2) the life cycle aspects of fertility and labor force participation by means of the use of small age groups in the analysis or cohort data if available, 3) the matching of current or historical perspective on both work and fertility, 4) more complete measures of fertility that consider both the number and spacing of children, and 5) a new approach to measuring the labor force and labor force participation as outlined in the Council of Asian Manpower Studies and the Organization of Demographic Associates approaches. Although there is a need for more data, the most important need is for different data and for different combinations of fertility and work data. It is particularly the labor force data that require a new approach. Both the gainful worker and labor force approaches were designed to measure the work of men in a Western society. These approaches were not designed nor can they be expected to provide useful service for measuring the very different work of women in developing countries, much less in relating work to other variables such as fertility. Thus, it is expected that the relationship between work and fertility will remain elusive under these circumstances. Neither the labor force dimension nor the other dimensions indicated have been generally considered in studies of work and fertility in developing countries. No study has been made using all these suggested dimensions. It is believed that the use of these dimensions is necessary in order to achieve a complete understanding of the relationship between female employment and fertility.