Women’s agency and fertility in Egypt
Final Report Abstract
This project provides a systematic investigation into the relationship between women’s agency and fertility in Egypt and the broader MENA region. An overarching result of the four studies included in the project suggest that women’s agency may not only influence fertility outcomes but also being influenced by their childbirth transitions. Focusing on the influence of women’s agency on fertility desires, Study 1.1 found that women’s agency was important for preventing unwanted births. It yields two major conclusions that are also relevant for family planning programs in the region. First, the ability to decide freely regarding their health-care seems to be essential for women to avoid having more children than they want. Second, the results draw attention to the key role of men’s fertility desires by showing that a woman’s agency does not matter in preventing unwanted births if her husband wants more children than she does. Replacement fertility in the MENA region is only possible if both men’s and women’s fertility desires decli ne. On the other hand, Study 1.2 tackled the causal effect of women’s agency on fertility behaviors and found that women’s higher agency did not cause lower fertility in Egypt. This finding contradicts with the theoretical prediction of a negative effect of women’s agency on fertility behaviors. We argue that the incongruity might be a result of previous research’s theoretical restrictiveness, which examines the agency-fertility relationship from a Western-central perspective, and methodological inefficacy, which relies on cross-section data analyses and implausible causal assumptions. Meanwhile, Study 2.1 and Study 2.2 support the assumption that in Egypt’s patriarchal context, women’s social status is dependent on their motherhood status, which suggests a positive impact of childbirth on women’s agency. This effect is particularly evident in women who have few alternatives to the mother role due to low education and live in rural areas which are characterized by stricter patriarchal familial and societal structures. Asides from these general conclusions, this project also points to country-wise differences in the relationship between agency and fertility, suggesting that cultural and institutional contexts at the macro level should be integrated into the discussion. Moreover, the relationship between motherhood and agency and the effects of birth transitions on agency differ across various dimensions of agency; the fertility impact of women’s intrinsic agency (e.g., gender norms) should be differentiated from that of women’s instrumental agency (e.g., decision-making, mobility, financial autonomy). These findings provide a valuable starting point for examining the specific background mechanisms for different agency dimensions and the contextual variations in greater detail. Future research should explore women's empowerment in Egypt's patriarchal society more comprehensively. Key questions include women's subjective valuation of agency,
Publications
-
Does women's agency matter in the formation and realization of fertility desires? An empirical investigation in Egypt and Jordan. BiB Working Paper 7/2023. Wiesbaden: Bundesinstitut für Bevölkerungsforschung.
Friedrich, C.
-
Women's agency and childbirth: The effect of transition to motherhood and subsequent births on women's agency in Egypt. Journal of Family Research, 35, 400-420.
Friedrich, Carmen
-
Women’s agency and childbirth: The effect of transition to motherhood and subsequent births on women’s agency in Egypt. Presented at Population Association of America 2023 Annual Meeting, New Orleans, USA (14.04.2023)
Friedrich, C.
-
How women’s agency affects fertility: New evidence based on Egyptian panel data. Presented at European Population Conference, Edinburgh, UK (15.06.2024).
Hsu, C.-H., Friedrich, C. & Engelhardt, H.
