Education, employment, and fertility in Kinshasa and prospects for changes in reproductive behavior
Shapiro, D.; Tambashe, B.O.
Working Papers Population Research Institute, Pennsylvania State University ( 1994-6): 26 pp.
1994
DOI: 10.1023/a:1005761504449Document Number: 315193
This paper examines fertility behavior of women in Kinshasa, Zaire. It looks at relationships linking women's education, employment, and fertility behaviour (children ever born, age at first marriage, contraception, abortion, breast feeding, and postpartum abstinence), using data from a 1990 survey of reproductive-age women. There are significant differences by educational attainment and by modern sector employment in lifetime fertility, as well as most of the proximate determinants. The results suggest that modern contraception and abortion are alternative fertility control strategies in Kinshasa, with abortion appearing to play an important role in contributing to the observed fertility differentials by education and employment. The dramatic increases that have taken place in women's access to schooling are likely to reduce fertility in the future, while the effects of Zaire's current economic and political crisis are uncertain.