Volume 44 - Article 51 | Pages 1229–1270 Author has provided data and code for replicating results

Childbearing intentions among Egyptian men and women: The role of gender-equitable attitudes and women’s empowerment

By Elena Ambrosetti, Aurora Angeli, Marco Novelli

Print this page  Facebook  Twitter

 

 
Date received:10 Mar 2020
Date published:18 Jun 2021
Word count:8354
Keywords:demographic transition, developing countries, Egypt, fertility, fertility intentions, gender, population policies, women empowerment
DOI:10.4054/DemRes.2021.44.51
Additional files:readme.44-51 (text file, 1 kB)
 demographic-research.44-51 (zip file, 157 kB)
 

Abstract

Objective: In a context of economic uncertainty and rising actual and ideal fertility, our analysis addresses the question of what factors can be related to the desired family size for both women and men of different generations.

Methods: Using data from the 2015 Egypt Health Issues Survey (EHIS), we use Poisson regressions to model the factors affecting women’s and men’s ideal number of children. Our main explanatory variables are male and female gender-equitable attitudes and female empowerment.

Results: More traditional gender attitudes are associated with a high level of desired fertility. Women exposed to mass media want fewer children than those not exposed, while no relationship emerged for men. The results regarding women’s empowerment confirm the role of female education, while paid work unexpectedly shows a positive association with the ideal number of children. Our findings show that Egyptian married women’s participation in family decisions is a salient aspect of their agency. Finally, we found that region and type of residence are highly associated with desired fertility for both men and women, confirming the importance of the social context where individuals live in their fertility behaviour.

Contribution: Our work contributes to the existing literature on fertility in two important ways. Firstly, this is the first study of the fertility intentions of both men and women in Egypt. Second, we adopt a gender perspective by analysing the factors affecting the ideal number of children in Egypt, looking at male and female gender-equitable attitudes and women’s empowerment.

Author's Affiliation

Elena Ambrosetti - Università degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza, Italy [Email]
Aurora Angeli - Università di Bologna (UNIBO), Italy [Email]
Marco Novelli - Università di Bologna (UNIBO), Italy [Email]

Most recent similar articles in Demographic Research

» Gender equity and fertility intentions in Italy and the Netherlands
Volume 18 - Article 1    | Keywords: fertility, fertility intentions, gender

» The sex preference for children in Europe: Children’s sex and the probability and timing of births
Volume 48 - Article 8    | Keywords: fertility, gender

» Extramarital fertility in low- and middle-income countries
Volume 47 - Article 3    | Keywords: developing countries, fertility

» Slow-downs of fertility decline: When should we call it a 'fertility stall'?
Volume 46 - Article 26    | Keywords: demographic transition, population policies

» The role of premarital cohabitation in the timing of first birth in China
Volume 45 - Article 8    | Keywords: demographic transition, fertility