fertility transition

DEPARTMENT OF POPULATION SCIENCES

UNIVERSITY OF DHAKA

TERM PAPERFertility and Reproduction

Course code-502

TERM PAPER ON

“Fertility transition in Bangladesh: The role offemale education”

Submitted toDr. Tehmina Ghafur

Associate Professor

Department of population Sciences, University of Dhaka

Submitted ByNadia Sultana

ID no-076

1st Semester -2013, MPS program

Department of Population Sciences

Submission Date: 06/12/2013

Abstract

This paper focuses on fertility transition in Bangladesh througheducational differentials in fertility levels and trends to using thenationwide data of 2011 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey. Herewe find that women's education is the strongest factor explainingfertility differences over the time. Women’s education shows theinverse relationship with fertility behavior in particular afterachieving a threshold level (secondary level) of schooling education.Women’s education has a positive impact on uses of contraception anddetermines the family size, health of child and herself. Women’seducation is behind increasing their empowerment, autonomy in decisionmaking and freedom of movement, their knowledge and attitude towardsvarious issues.

Fertility transition in Bangladesh: The role of female education 2

Table of Contents

1.0 Objective 4

2.0 Introduction 4

3.0 Analysis of different factors effecting fertility

5

3.1

Female education and age at marriage

5

6

6

7

7

8

8

10

10

3.2

Female education and childbearing

3.3

Female education and birth interval

3.4

Female education and family size

3.5

Female education and teenage pregnancy

3.6

Female education and uses of contraception


10

11

12

13

13

3.7

Female education and health care

3.8

Female education and lactation

3.9

Female education and son preferences

3.10

Female education and empowerment

3.11

Female education and freedom of movement

3.12

Female education and awareness ofAIDS

3.13

Female education and uses of media in family planning

3.14

Female education and ideational change

4.0 Finding and recommendations 13

5.0 Conclusion 14

6.0

7.0

References

Appendices

15

16

1.0 Objective

To see the relation between female education and fertility.


2.0 Introduction

Bangladesh is eighth most densely populated country in the world.According to the report of BDHS 2011 the population of the country isabout 149.8 million, with a population density of 1015 per squarekilometer. The annual growth rate is now 1.37%. In Bangladesh lifeexpectancy of females (69 years) is slightly more than males (67years)

The country is now experiencing its demographic transition. If weanalyze the previous data of total fertility rates (TFR), then we findthat fertility is declining slowly. In 1975 the TFR was 6.3,eventually it declined in1989(5.1),’91(4.3),’93-’94(3.4),’96-’97(3.3),’99-’00(3.3),’04(3.0),’07(2.7) and in 2011it is (2.3). Between the 2007 and 2011 BDHS there hasbeen almost a 15 percent decline in the total fertility rate, from 2.7to 2.3 births per woman (BDHS-2011). The continuous declining ofnatural growth rate is expected to lead to a smaller populationincrease in the coming decades. According to National PopulationPolicy the country aims to achieve replacement level of fertility by2015 (MOHFW, 2009) and the Health Population Nutrition SectorDevelopment Program (HPNSDP) plans to reduce the total fertility rateto 2.0 children per women by 2016 (MOHFW, 2011).

Figure- Trend in TFR, 1975-2011(Sources-BDHS 2011,pg-64.figure-5.2)


Woman’s education plays an important role in the development of acountry. It creates more favorable fertility attitudes and norms; itempowers women in household decision-making, including matters relatedto contraceptive use, fertility, children’s schooling and health care,quality of life and it increases prospects of female employment.

3.0 Analysis of different factors effecting fertility According to UNESCO-

“Literacy is the ability to identify, understand,interpret, create, communicate and compute using printedand written materials associated with varying contexts.Literacy involves a continuum of learning in enablingindividuals to achieve his or her goals, develop his orher knowledge and potentials, and participate fully inthe community and wider society.”

In the BDHS sample education is grouped into four categories: a) Noeducation, b) Some primary education, c) Primary completed and d) Secondary and higher education

From 1993-’94 percentage of females age 6 or above with no educationare declining both rural and urban areas of Bangladesh. According toBDHS-2007 in urban area it was 1993-‘94 (34),’96-‘97(30),’99-‘00(29),’03(23’04(28),) and in rural areas it was 1993-‘94(50),’96-‘97(46),’99-‘00(40), ’03(32), ’04(36). It declines at thefollowing year. School attendance for all age group between 6-24 yearin 2011 has increased from that in 2007 and previous.

According to BDHS-2011, 28 percent of ever-married women age 15-49have never been to school, 18 percent have completed some primaryeducation, 12 percent have completed all primary education, 30 percent


have completed some secondary education, and 12 percent have completedall secondary education or continued on to higher education.

Female education has considerably increased since 1975. According tothe data of BANBEIS in 1975 about 492020(25.05%) females were in thesecondary school whereas in 2011 the number is 4026374(53.61%).(Table-1.2)

The secondary education group consists of women with six or more yearsof schooling women with less than secondary education have fertilityrates well above replacement level. Women with primary education andno education, on average, bear one child and two children more thanthose with at least five years of schooling.

3.1 Female education and age at marriage:

The legal age at marriage in Bangladesh for women is 18 years, but alarge proportion of marriages still take place before that legal age.But with increased female education it decreases. According to BDHS2011, the proportion of women married before legal age has beendecrease from 73% in 1989 to 65% in 2011.

Figure-Trends in population of women age 20-24 who were first marriedby age 18

(Sources-BDHS,2011,pg-52, figure-4.1)


An early beginning to childbearing greatly reduces women’s educationaland employment opportunities and is associated with higher levels offertility. This hurts their job prospects, which often lowers theirstatus in society. Education delays entry into marital unions. Itdecreases the number of years that can be spent for childbearing. The2011 BDHS survey collected information of median age at first birthamong women age 20-49 and 25-49. It shows that the women who have somesecondary education start childbearing later than those with little orno education. (17.5 years verses 22.2 years) (BDHS-2011,pg-71,table-5.10).

3.2 Female education and childbearing:

In Bangladesh childbearing begins early. According to currentfertility rates, on average, women will have 25 percent of theirbirths before reaching age 20, 56 percent during their twenties, and17 percent during their thirties. As expected, the TFR for rural womenis higher than for urban women (2.5 compared with 2.0 births perwoman). Therefore we can say that almost half of women giving birth byage 18 and nearly 70 percent giving birth by age 20. The rural-urbandifference in fertility is greater in the age groups 15-19 and 20-24.In rural area ASFR of age group 15-19 is 128 and age group 20-24 is165 and in urban area it is respectively 91 and 121 ( BDHS-2011, pg-60, table-5.1). If the women enter to marriage after finishing theiryear of schooling then number of children per women will decline andas well as help to decline the fertility rate.

3.3 Female education and birth interval:

In Bangladesh the cohabitation and child bearing are socially approvedonly after marriage, the length of the birth interval (length of timebetween two successive live births) affects the completed size offamily by influencing and spacing and child bearing pattern of afamily. Short birth interval may adversely affect a mother’s healthand her children’s chance of survival. With increasing the educationlevel of women, the awareness on modern contraceptive methods andknowledge of harmful effect of a short birth interval on the health ofa children increase. It helps to make her decision about familyplanning, as a result the fertility rate declines.


In Bangladesh birth intervals are generally long, with a medianinterval of 47 months. Long time breastfeeding and a long period ofpostpartum amenorrhea are likely to contribute to the relatively highpercentage of births occurring after an interval of 24 months or morein Bangladesh. The length of the birth interval is closely associatedwith the survival status of the previous sibling. The median birthinterval is 18 months shorter when the previous sibling has died thanwhen the previous sibling is still alive (31 and 49 month,respectively). The percentage of births occurring within a very shortinterval (less than 18 months) is almost eight times higher forchildren whose previous sibling died than for children whose previoussibling survived (23 and 3 % respectively). The shorter interval forthe death of a child is partly due to a shortened period ofbreastfeeding (or no breastfeeding) for the preceding child, whichleads to an earlier return of ovulation and hence increased chance ofpregnancy. Minimal use of contraception, presumably because of adesire to have another child as soon as possible, could also be partlyresponsible for the shorter birth interval in these cases. Birthintervals are slightly longer in urban (55 months) than in rural (46months) areas. The median number of months since the preceding birthincreases both with the mother’s education and the household’s wealth.The birth interval increases from 45 months among women with noeducation to 49 months among women with an incomplete secondaryeducation and to 56 months among those with a complete secondaryeducation or higher. Similarly, the median birth interval for thehighest wealth quintile is nearly 5 years (57 months), whereas for thetwo lowest quintiles it is 45 months or less. The median number ofmonths since a preceding birth increases significantly with age, from26 months among mothers age 15-19 to 67 months among mothers age 40-49.

3.4 Female education and family size:

Female education can reduces desired family size for a number ofreasons. First, education raises the opportunity cost of women's timeand, generally, opens up greater opportunities for women that oftenconflict with repeated child-bearing. This may lead educated women towant fewer children. Second, in a country like Bangladesh where thereis marked son preference, the education of women may reduce theirdependence on sons for social recognition or support in old age. Thistoo may lead to some reduction in desired family size, to the extent


that large families are the consequence of a desire for an adequatenumber of surviving sons. Third, educated women may have higheraspirations for their children, combined with lower expectations ofthem in terms of labor services. This may also reduce desired familysize, especially if there is a trade-off between the number ofchildren and the time available for each child (Fertility, educationand development: pg-4). The 2011 BDHS shows the data of percentage ofcurrently married women who want no more children, the desire to limitchildbearing is higher among women with no education than among womenwith education, which helps to reduce the fertility rate. 82 percent ofcurrently married women with no education want to stop childbearingcompared with 50 percent of those who have completed secondary education(BDHS-2011, pg-76, table-6.2). Most of the women of our country want asmall size family. According to the 2011 BDHS survey 76% women want tohave two children and 12% women want a three-child family (BDHS-2011,pg-77, table-6.3).

3.5 Female education and teenage pregnancy:

Teenage pregnancy and motherhood is a major health concern forBangladesh. With women’s education it can be reduces. Accordingto the data of 2011 BDHS the percentage of women age 15-19 whohave began childbearing(either had a live birth or pregnant withher first child) declines with level of schooling (about 47% whohave no education verses 11% who have completes secondary orhigher education).

3.6 Female education and uses of contraception:

There is a small variation in the use of contraceptive by womenhaving education and no education. According to 2011 BDHS anycontraceptive method are used by women with no education 61.4%,among them who never complete primary education 64% ,among themwho have completed primary 59.6% , women who do not completedsecondary education 59% and among them who have completedsecondary or higher education 63.4%. Contraceptive pills arefavored by women of all education level (21%-30%). Women with noeducation are more likely to use female sterilization than


educated women. After the pill, injectables are favored by women(no education through secondary incomplete level), the rate is10%-14%. Male condom is second most popular method with secondaryor higher education (18%). (BDHS 2011, pg-85, table-7.2)

Figure: Contraceptive use by background characteristics

(sources-BDHS 2011,pg-85,figure-7.1)

3.7 Female education and health care:

Infant and child mortality rates reflect a country’s level ofsocioeconomic development and quality of life. An effective control ofinfant and child mortality is a prerequisite for the successfuldeceleration of the population growth rate. Mother’s level ofeducation is inversely related to her child’s risk of dying. Higherlevel of education is generally associated with lower mortality risksbecause education exposes mothers to information about betterpregnancy and child health care. For example, infant mortality is 40percent lower for children whose mothers have completed secondaryeducation than for those with no education (33 and 55 deaths per 1,000live births, respectively) (BDHS-2011,pg-115,table-8.3).

Perinatal mortality (“the number of stillbirths and deaths in thefirst week of life, per 1000 live births, after 24 weeks gestation”-WHO) has a negative association with the mother’s education. It islowest for women who have completed secondary or higher educationcompare to the women who have no education (43 verses 57).(BDHS-2011,pg-118,table-8.5).

Universal immunization of children under age 1 against major vaccine-preventable diseases(tuberculosis, diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus,Fertility transition in Bangladesh: The role of female education 11

hepatitis B, hemophilus influenza type B disease, poliomyelitis, andmeasles) is one of the most cost-effective programs to reduce infantand child morbidity and mortality. Mother’s education is positivelyassociated with children’s likelihood of being fully vaccinated: 97percent of children whose mothers completed secondary or highereducation is fully vaccinated, compared with 76 percent of childrenwhose mothers have no education (BDHS-2011, pg-149, table-10.3).Neonatal tetanus is a leading cause of neonatal deaths, especially indeveloping countries where a high proportion of deliveries areconducted at home or in places where unhygienic conditions prevail.Tetanus toxoid (TT) injections are given to pregnant women duringpregnancy to prevent neonatal tetanus. The percentage of women whoreceive two or more TT injections during the pregnancy of her lastlive birth was protected against neonatal tetanus, are more ineducated women than illiterate women (93% verses 78%) (BDHS-2011, pg-127, table-9.4).

Diarrhea remains a leading cause of childhood morbidity and mortalityin developing countries. The relationship between diarrhea prevalencewith mother’s education is not linear, but it is lowest among childrenof mothers who had completed secondary or higher education, women withno education 4.3% and women who complete higher education is 3.5 .(BDHS-2011,pg-151,table-10.4).

The educated women have more facilities of antenatal care. Antenatalcare is the care a woman received from healthcare professionals duringher pregnancy. It is provided by a medically-trained provider, thatis, a qualified doctor, nurse, midwife, paramedic, family welfarevisitor(FWV), community skilled birth attendant (CSBA), medicalassistant (MA), or sub-assistant community medical officer (SACMO))than the illiterate women. According to 2011 BDHS women with noeducation have these facilities only 39% where about 93% highereducated (completed secondary or more) women are having thesefacilities. (BDHS-2011, pg-123, table-9.1)

Proper medical attention and hygienic conditions during delivery canreduce the risk of complications and infections that can cause deathor serious illness for the mother or the newborn. Education level of awoman has a positive relationship on the likelihood of delivering in ahealth facility. For example, only 11% of women with no educationdeliver in a health facility compared with 67 % of women withcompleted secondary education. Delivery by C-section is highest among


births to mothers who completed secondary education. As per 2011 BDHSonly 5% women with no education delivered by C-section compare with49% of women with completed secondary education or more.( BDHS-2011,pg-129,table-9.5)

Postnatal care of mother and the new born is very important for safemotherhood. Percent distribution of women age 15-49 after delivery ofthe mother’s first postnatal check-up for the last live birth from amedically-trained provider is higher in the educated women compare tothe women with no education. Only 9% percent women with no educationhave their first postnatal checkup less than 4 hours where 55% womenwith completing secondary education have this facility (BDHS-2011,pg-134,table-9.8). Only 5% children of uneducated mother have thefacility of first neo-natal check-up in less than 1 hour where 36%children of a mother who completed her secondary education have thisfacility (BDHS-2011, pg-136, table-9.10).

A child’s birth weight or size at birth is important indicator of thechild’s vulnerability to the risk of childhood illness and chances ofsurvival. Children whose birth weight is less than 2.5 kilograms,i.e., low birth weight (LBW), have a higher than average risk of earlychildhood death. The highest percentages of very small children arealso seen among children whose mothers have no education (6 percent)and the lowest are among children whose mothers have completedsecondary or higher education (4 percent) (BDHS-2011,pg-146,table-10.1).

3.8 Female education and lactation:

Female education and lactation have an inverse relationship.Women with secondary or higher education less breast feed theirchild than women with no education. The median duration of anybreastfeeding among Bangladeshi children in 2011 is 31.2 months.Where women who have not completed primary education breast feedtheir child for 34.1 month, it is low among the women who havecompleted primary or higher education about 28.1 month. (BDHS2011,pg-173, table-11.4)


3.9 Female education and son preferences:

One of the biggest reason for the over population of Bangladesh is‘son preferences’ of parents. In Bangladesh many families have thedesire for a son for a son is considered as power for a family, who issaid, enlightens the whole family. A woman who is mother of a son ishonored. A large number of people think that a son will be his or herold age security. Mother’s education is the single most significantfactor in reducing son preferences. Because sons are more preferred bythe illiterate women than among them who are highly educated.Education for women serves as an alternative source of status, powerand prestige. As educated women can work outside and earn money.

3.10 Female education and empowerment:

Women empowerment plays important role in family planning or we cansay it helps to decline the fertility rate of a country. “Autonomy isdefined as decision making power within home, economic and socialself-reliance, confidence in interacting with the outsideworld.”(jejeobhoy,1995).

The education of the woman, her autonomy and her decision making roleall add up in the same direction. As Basu (1996) argues “..femaleschooling does seem to increase several aspects of female autonomywhich (again, besides being good in themselves)” are also useful waysto strengthen the role of women, in this case her levels ofempowerment.

Women’s autonomy is likely to have a significant impact ondemographic and health seeking behavior of couples by varying women’srelative control over fertility and contraceptive use and byinfluencing their attitudes toward sex composition of children, numberof children etc. and their ability to use health services forthemselves and their children. It is also dependent upon women’seducation because an educated woman is more independent than anilliterate woman.

Three in five married women (61%) in Bangladesh use a method ofcontraception, and more than half use a modern method of contraception


(52 %). Use of contraception increased from 56 to 61 % between 2007and 2011. More than half (52 %) use a modern method, and 9 % use atraditional method. The four most popular modern methods used bymarried women are the pill (27 percent), injectables (11 percent), themale condom (6 percent) and female sterilization (5 percent). Only 8percent of currently married couples use a long-term or permanentmethod, such as sterilization, an IUD, or an implant. There is a smallvariation in contraceptive use by women’s education. Contraceptivepills are favored by women of all educational levels (21 to 32 %).Women with no education are more likely to use female sterilizationthan educated women. Women in the lowest two educational quintiles arethe most likely to report using male sterilization. After the pill,injectables are favored by women (no education through secondaryincomplete level) (10 to 14 %). In contrast, male condom use is thesecond most popular method among women with secondary or highereducation (18 %).

3.11 Female education and freedom of movement:

Freedom of movement is one of the best indicators of womenempowerment. Educated women have more freedom in movement thanilliterate women as they are more involve in employment outside. Thefreedom of movement of a women is elicited by the employment status,particularly employment for cash, and control over how earnings areused, ability of going to a health center or hospital alone or withtheir children, ability of their participation in household decisions,like -major household purchases, their child’s health care, and visitsto their family or relatives and their attitudes regarding genderroles, are important indicators of empowerment for women. The abilityof a women decision making affects the personal circumstances of theirown lives is an essential aspect of empowerment and serves as animportant contributor to their overall welfare.

In 2011 BDHS currently married women were asked whether they wereemployed at the time of the survey and if not, whether they wereemployed at any time during the 12 months preceding the survey. 13% ofcurrently married women age 15-49 reported being employed in the past12 months. By age, employment increases from 8 % among women age 15-19to 16 % among women age 30-34, before declining to 12 % in the oldestage group (45-49 years).Although employment is assumed to go hand inhand with payment for work, not all women receive earnings for thework they do. Even among women who receive earnings, not all are paid


in cash.92% of employed women are paid in cash only, 4% receive bothcash and in-kind earnings, 2% are paid in kind, and 1% does notreceive any form of payment for their work. Women age 15-19 are morelikely to be paid in cash (97 %) than their older counterparts (BDHS-2011, pg-212, table-13.1).

Women need to have control over their earnings to be empowered. It isexpected that women who control their own cash earnings will have agreater say in the use of other household resources. The BDHS-2011survey asked currently married women with cash earnings in the past 12months who the main decision maker is with regard to the use of theirearnings. Over 1/3 of currently married women who earn cash reportthat they themselves mainly decide how their cash earnings are used;another 55% report that they decide jointly with their husbands, and8% reported that their husband alone decide how their earnings areused. 30% women are of age 30-34 are less likely than older andyounger women to mainly decide by themselves how their earnings areused. Women with no children are more likely to make decisionsregarding the use of their earnings than women with children. Forexample, 37% of currently married women with no children mainly decideby themselves how their earnings are used compared with 30 % of womenwith five or more children. Urban women can make decisions themselvesabout spending their earnings more than rural women (36% and 32%,respectively). Rural women are more dependent on their husbands alonedecisions about the use of their earnings than the urban women (11%versus 5% respectively).Women’s decision-making power regarding theirearnings increases with their level of education and household wealth.Two in five women (40%) who have at least some secondary educationmainly make the decision by themselves on how to use the money theyearn compared with one in four (25 %) women with no education. Womenwith no education are more likely to decide jointly with theirhusbands (63%) about the use of their earnings. 39% of women in thehighest wealth quintile mainly decide by themselves about the use oftheir earnings compared with 30 % of women in the lowest wealthquintile (BDHS-2011,pg-213,table-13.2).

The 2011 BDHS asked currently married women whether they go to ahealth center or hospital or, if they don’t go, whether they can goalone or with their young children to a health center or hospital. 56% of women say that they go alone or with their young children to ahealth center or hospital and 22 % do not go to a health center orhospital but say that they can go to these health facilities alone or


with their children. The proportion of women who cannot go to thehospital or health center alone or accompanied by their childrendecreases from 42 % among women age 15-19 to 16- 18 % among olderwomen. Women with 1 to 4 children, urban women, women who havecompleted a secondary or higher level of education, and women in thehighest wealth quintile are more likely than their counterparts to goto a health facility either alone or with their children. On the otherhand, young women, rural women, women in Sylhet, and women in thelower wealth quintiles are more likely to be among those who cannot goto a health facility alone or accompanied by their young children(BDHS-2011, pg-215, table-13.3).

The 2011 BDHS survey collected information about women’s participationin household decisions, like their own health care, major householdpurchases, their child’s health care, and visits to their family orrelatives. 42 % of currently married women participate in all fourdecisions, and 19 % do not participate in any of the decisions.Participation in decision making in general increases with age, withwomen age 15-24 being the least likely to participate in all fourdecisions (20%) and it is highest among age group 35-39 about(52.4%).Urban women participate more in all four decisions than theirrural counterparts (48% versus 39% respectively).As expected,employed women who have cash earnings are more likely to participatein all four decisions than women who are not employed (52 % versus 40% respectively).Women with no children are less likely to participatein all four household decisions (8 %) than women with children (42 %or higher).Women’s participation in decision making does not varygreatly by education or wealth, although women who have completedsecondary or higher education (48%) and women in the highest wealthquintile (48 %) are most likely to participate in all four decisions,and least likely to not participate in all four decisions (BDHS-2011,pg-217,table 13.5).

Teenage pregnancy and motherhood is a major health concern forBangladesh. With women’s education it can be reduces. According to thedata of 2011 BDHS the percentage of women age 15-19 who have beganchildbearing(either had a live birth or pregnant with her first child)declines with level of schooling (about 47% who have no educationverses 11% who have completes secondary or higher education).Fertility transition in Bangladesh: The role of female education 17

3.12 Female education and awareness of AIDS: AIDS is an illness caused by the virus called HIV. The main routes oftransmission of HIV to be unsafesexual intercourse, intravenous injections with contaminated needles,unscreened or contaminated bloodtransfusions, and transmission from an infected mother to her childduring pregnancy, delivery, or breastfeeding. HIV infection weakensthe immune system and makes the body susceptible to and unable torecover from other opportunistic diseases. Secondary infections, ifnot adequately treated, can lead to death.

“In Bangladesh, the first case of HIV was detected in 1989. In 2011,a total of 445 new cases of HIV infection, 251 new AIDS cases,and 84 deaths due to AIDS were reported. The reported number ofHIV-positive people in Bangladesh increased from 363 in 2003 to1,207 in 2007. By the end of 2011, the number of HIV-positivepeople had increased to 2,533, an increase of more than double infour years. However, the estimated number of HIV/AIDS casesremains at 7,500, indicating both the likelihood of incompletereporting and the potential for growth of the epidemic inBangladesh “(NASP, 2012).

Knowledge about AIDS and it preventive method is very important.Awareness of HIV/AIDS among educated women is more than illiteratewomen. Nearly all women (99%) who have completed secondary educationhave heard of AIDS, compared with 40 % of women with no education .(BDHS-2011, pg-199,table-12.1.)

3.13 Female education and uses of media in family planning:

The media play an important role in communicating messages aboutfamily planning. The 2011 BDHS asked women and men whether they hadheard or seen a message about family planning on the radio, ontelevision, in a newspaper or magazine, on a billboard, poster, orleaflet, or at a community event in the month before the survey.Education has a positive influence on media exposure. For example, 12% of uneducated women have exposure to family planning information ontelevision compared with 45% of women with a secondary or highereducation. (BDHS-2011, pg-103, table-7.17.1)


3.14 Female education and ideational change:

Educated women can adopt new concepts and ideational changes more thanthe uneducated women. Ideas about ideal family size (not more than 2children) and birth control practice spread more quickly among theeducated women. Because of lack of awareness, uneducated women neglectthe new birth control technologies, whereas educated women adopt themquickly.

4.0 Findings and recommendations

From the above analysis, we found that female education have a greatimpact on age at marriage, child bearing, birth interval, determiningfamily size, teenage pregnancy, uses of contraception and theirawareness for family planning, health care, employment status andtheir empowerment. Female education reduces infant and childmortality, prenatal mortality etc. Also increases antenatal and postnatal care among the women. Women’s preference for sons as old agesecurity or source of power or prestige decreases with education. Withfemale education their freedom of movement increases. Female’sawareness about various important social issues like problems of earlymarriage, knowledge about HIV or AIDS, uses of various contraceptivemethod also increases with education. We also find out that femaleeducation have a inverse relationship with lactation. All thesefactors are directly or indirectly related to fertility rate.

We have to take necessary steps to increase the rate of femaleeducation, so that the fertility rate will eventually decrease.The constitution of Bangladesh further empowers the State to makespecial provision in favor of women. Female teachers play a vitalrole in increasing girl enrollment in the schools. In order tomake basic education more effective and ensure higher enrollmentand retention of girls in schools female teachers have beenrecruited in large number. In the eighties the female teachers inprimary school were below twenty percent, but in 1998 theproportion has increased to 31 percent. The Government hasreserved 60 of the teaching posts for females in primary schools.The women’s education level in the country is steadily increasing


due to various promotional steps undertaken by the presentGovernment. One such example is tuition fee exemption for girlsattending secondary school. The population census of 1974revealed that the adult literacy rate of women was 13.2 percent,but the literacy rate of women in 1998 increased to 48.1 percent.There are a number of areas in Bangladesh, which remain under-schooled and not served. To help ensure that equitable access toquality schooling is available to all children, establishment ofnew schools and classrooms will be targeted to under-schooled andnot served areas.

Our government can take following steps to increase femaleeducation-

a. Special fund should be created and non-governmentinitiatives should be encouraged for increasing the literacyrate of women.

b. New schools will be established in underserved areas meetingthe criteria of having no other school within 2 km so thatthe reason behind drop out of females in the primary levelscan be prevented, as a major reasons for dropout of girls inthe primary level is the distance of school from home.

c. Adequate allocation should be made in the education budgetto establish more primary, secondary and higher secondaryschools/colleges for women.

d. To increase the participation of women in the highereducation, budgetary allocation should be made to providesafe and secure transport facilities to girl students.

e. Measures should be taken for decreasing the number ofdropouts from school. The dropout girls should be broughtunder various vocational programs.

f. Budgetary expenditure for skill development of women must beincreased in the education budget.

g. In order to bring a large number of women under the umbrellaof formal education and inspire them to pursue educationfrom primary to higher and professional levels, necessary


facilities for women education must be provided ineducational institutions at all levels.

h. Through proper changes in the syllabus of primary education,positive and progressive images of women and the issue oftheir equal rights should be highlighted so that theexisting social attitude towards women changes.

i. Budgetary allocation has to be made to provide scholarshipsto women so that they can increase their participation inhigher education.

5.0 Conclusion

It is thus evident that for a successful transition from thecurrent level of fertility education is the key factor. Aneducated mother can easily enter employment market and herearning empowers her, gives her freedom and choice to takedecision not only in the field of livelihood and lifestyle butalso spacing birth of a child. It is expected that policyplanners of Bangladesh take note of this vital factor.

6.0 References

Sujatha, D. S., & Reddy, G. B. (2009). Women’s Education,Autonomy and Fertility Behaviour. Asia-Pacific Journal of Social Sciences,1(1), 35-50.

Fleischer, A., Lutz, M., & Schmidt, J. O. (2010). PopulationDynamics in Bangladesh: A case study on the causes and effects ofdemographic change in Bangladesh. Division of Health and Social ProtectionGTZ-section: New Political Prospective.


Barkat-e-Khuda, & Hossain, M. B. (1996). Fertility decline inBangladesh: toward an understanding of major causes. HealthTransition Review, 155-167.

DHS, M. (2012). Demographic and Health Survey.

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7.0 Appendices

Annexure 1:

Source: BDHS-2011,pg-71,table-5.10

Annexure 2:


Source: BDHS-2011, pg-60, table-5.1

Annexure 3:



Annexure 4:


Annexure 5:

Source: BDHS 2011, pg-85, table-7.2


Annexure 6:


Annexure 7:




Annexure 8:



Annexure 9:



Annexure 10:



Annexure 11:




Annexure 12:



Annexure 13:



Annexure 14:



Annexure 15:



Annexure 16 :

Source: BDHS 2011,pg-173, table-11.4


Annexure 17:


Annexure 18:



Annexure 19:


Source : BDHS-2011, pg-215, table-13.3


Annexure 20:

Source: BDHS-2011,pg-217,table 13.5


Annexure 21:

Source: BDHS-2011, pg-199,table-12.1


Annexure 22:

Source: BDHS-2011, pg-103, table-7.17.1


fertility transition

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