Women's Status and Fertility in Developing Countries: Son Preference and Economic Security. World Bank Staff Working Papers No. 682 and Population and Development Series No. 7.

The relationship between women's status--defined in terms of the degree to which they are economically dependent on men--and fertility in developing nations is examined. After a brief introduction, part 2 discusses a particular theoretical perspective regarding fertility determinants in developing countries and explores the implications of women's status within that context. Special attention is given to the value of children as security assets in settings where public welfare assistance in minimal or nonexistent and financial and insurance markets are poorly developed. Part 3 examines women's situation in which economic status and the institutional factors that create a particular degree of dependence determine the relevance of sex of children in defining security goals. It is noted that in societies where women are highly dependent on men, security goals will, of necessity, be defined in terms of surviving sons; where women are relatively independent economically, it is more likely that children of either sex can severe security goals. Part 4 uses a cross-national empirical analysis to support the argument that given similar security needs, and other things being equal, fertility will be considerably higher in settings where there is a strong preference for sons than in settings where son preference is weak. (Author/RSL)