8. The interrelationship between the division of labour in the household, women's roles and the impact on fertility
Youssef, N.H.
Women' s roles and population trends in the Third World: 173-201
1981
Document Number: 387922
The paper first analyzes some of the determinants of the labour allocation process between the sexes in order to understand the structural context in which intra-familial decisions regarding the work women are to perform take place. Social differentiation processes within the rural community are shown to play a crucial role, particularly those which stem from private appropriation of land, in simultaneously acting upon the labour allocation process and upon aspects related to women's institutional position in the social structure. All aspects of the role and status of women are shown to interact in a dynamic way with stratification variables to structure requirements and constraints related to reproductive behaviour. It is suggested that certain relationships between the sexual division of labour and fertility, and between certain aspects related to women's power and fertility should be considered. One of these treats fertility as a women's direct respose to the sex-based labour allocation process; the other sees a causal flow between sex-specific demands for labour (emerging from economic and political forces), the sexual division of labour and fertility levels.