Women's Education, Autonomy and Reproductive Behaviour

Women's access to education has been recognized as a fundamental right. The benefits of education are manifold. Educating women results in improved productivity, income and economic development, as well as a better quality of life, and notably a healthier and better nourished population. At the same time, it is clear that education empowers women, providing them with increased autonomy in every sphere of their lives. Moreover, education is important for all kinds of demographic behaviour, affecting mortality, health, fertility and contraception. In almost every setting, regardless of region, culture and level of development, education results in fewer children. Beyond these few general assertions, however, there is little consensus on such issues as: how much education is required before changes in autonomy occur; whether the education/autonomy relationship exists in all cultural contexts, at all times and at all levels of development; and which aspects of autonomy are important in the relationship between education and fertility. It is in the need to address these fundamental issues that this book took shape.