Module 13 Women and Demographic Change.pdf

## Module 13: Women and Demographic Change ### Learning Goals - Describe the concept of women's status. - Explain how women's status affects fertility rates. - Explain how women's status affects mortality rates. - Explain how women's status affects migration. ### Terms to Know - **Women's status:*...

## Module 13: Women and Demographic Change ### Learning Goals - Describe the concept of women's status. - Explain how women's status affects fertility rates. - Explain how women's status affects mortality rates. - Explain how women's status affects migration. ### Terms to Know - **Women's status:** The degree of equality between men and women with respect to access to and control over both physical and social resources in the family, community, or society at large. - **Women's empowerment:** The increased autonomy of women to make choices and shape their lives. ### What does Women's Status mean? - **Defining Women's Status:** Women's status usually refers to the degree of equality between men and women in terms of access to and control over physical and social resources in the family, community, or society at large. Physical resources include land, food, money, and other material forms of wealth. Social resources include knowledge, power, and prestige. - **Female autonomy:** Women's ability to obtain information and make informed decisions for themselves and their families. ### How does women's status affect fertility rates? - **Women's Status: Effects on Fertility:** Traditional gender roles are closely tied to the number of children couples produce. In many developing countries, women's roles are narrowly defined as childbearers and unpaid workers at home and in the fields. Women are considered more feminine and have a higher status when they produce many offspring. Improving women's social status may influence fertility in specific ways. - **Women's Education: Effects on Fertility:** Women's education level is consistently associated with fertility reduction. Women who are more educated tend to marry at a later age and have fewer children. Why? Educated women are less likely to follow social and cultural norms about the ideal family size, and they are less likely to believe that having many children confers high status or prestige on them. ### How does women's status affect mortality rates? - **Women's status: Effects on Mortality:** Women's status, especially their education level and access to health care and family planning services, improves health and reduces mortality, particularly infant and child mortality. Better-educated mothers are more likely to understand the importance of good nutrition and hygiene, seek medical treatment for themselves and their children, and practice family planning to space their births. These practices lead not only to healthier babies but also to lower levels of maternal mortality. - **Maternal mortality:** Although maternal mortality has dropped sharply in the last few decades, about 290,000 women still die each year from pregnancy-related causes. Improving women's status in those countries will go a long way toward ensuring their reproductive health. ### How does women's status affect migration? - **Women's Status: Effects on Migration:** Women's status affects and is in turn affected by migration. For example, in many South Asian countries, most migrants to urban areas are men who move to cities to look for work in factories, leaving their wives and children behind in rural villages. The women continue to care for their parents and children while taking on many of their husbands' activities. In some countries, women are required to obey elderly male or female members of their families in the absence of their husbands, which might weaken their status. - **Benefits of migration:** In countries where women enjoy more autonomy, they are moving by themselves or with their husbands in search of better opportunities. They may have more opportunities for education and training. Their employment and income help them to become more assertive and confident about themselves. ### Multiple-Choice Questions 1. Which of the following initiatives would have the greatest impact on reducing births in the developing world? - Providing women with contraceptives. 2. As the world becomes more urbanized, what will be the effect on the size of families? - Families will have fewer children because they do not need them to work on the farm. ### Module Review - What does women's status mean? - Women's status is a multidimensional concept that is difficult to measure. Assessment of women's status generally relies on indicators related to educational attainment, access to health care, and employment. - How does women's status affect fertility rates? - Women's education appears to be most consistently linked with fertility decline. Educated women marry later and want fewer children than less educated women do. Women's access to health care services, particularly contraception, is also associated with fertility decline. - How does women's status affect mortality rates? - Women's higher status is associated with reduced infant, child, and maternal mortality. - How does women's status affect migration? - Women who enjoy more autonomy may migrate to urban areas by themselves or with their husbands in search of better opportunities.