Female education levels and fertility in Kenya
Abstract
The main aim of the study was to investigate the effect of female educational levels
on fertility in Kenya. To realize this goal, other variables were introduced as confounding
variables since education has both direct and indirect effect on fertility. Univariate,
bivariate and multivariate analysis tools were used. The study realized the goal, as
intended where the higher educated a woman is the fewer the number of children she will
give birth to.
The unit of analysis for the study was individual woman and the aim was to find out
the relationship between fertility measured as children ever born and educational level of
a woman.
The data used for the study was the Kenyan Demographic and Health Survey, 2003
data set as collected by the Central Bureau of Statistics. This was a national survey that
covered the whole nation.
The findings of the study show that education is a very important determinant of
fertility. Also, the study shown that education alters or interferes with the demographic
variables such as age to influence fertility. Increase in level of education results in
increased use of contraceptives and also, early marriages leads to longer duration of
marriage indicating lower level of education and more children ever born. Also number
of children (family size) is surprisingly homogeneous throughout the educational
spectrum when all other factors are controlled for. While the least educated and the better
educated share the small family norms, the gap between the two groups in contraceptive
use is large. Better-educated women have broader knowledge, higher socio-economic
status and less fatalistic attitudes towards reproduction than the less educated women
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meaning that the better educated have fewer children (less than 3) whereas the less
educated have many children. The study recommended that more research is needed in
this area particularly by redefining and giving female education a new look to enable
conclusions from future researches to show the aspect! component of female education
that causes fertility decline. Also proper laws should be put in place to ensure that the girl
child stays in school beyond primary level and female education to form a core value for
any planning which will ensure that all their needs education wise is met.
Sponsorhip
The University of NairobiPublisher
Population Studies and Research Institute ( PSRI)