This brief summarises evidence from six G²LM|LIC-funded research projects on the two-way relationship between fertility and women’s economic opportunities in low-income settings. The studies show that childbearing can have lasting consequences for women’s labour market trajectories, especially when it occurs early in life, but also that marriage and fertility decisions respond to the economic opportunities available to women and their families. Evidence from Bangladesh and Ethiopia suggests that improving women’s economic prospects can delay marriage and childbearing without necessarily reducing fertility over the life cycle and with positive intergenerational spillovers. The brief also reviews evidence on childcare as a policy lever for weakening the labour market penalties associated with childbearing. While accessible childcare can improve women’s economic activity, household income, and child development, evidence from Egypt and Kenya shows that these gains depend on take-up, quality, trust, and compatibility with local labour market opportunities.
Fertility and Women’s Labour Market Outcomes: Evidence on the role of economic opportunities and childcare services
- Andrea Smurra