Making the case for investing on girls: linking family planning programs, girl's education, and women's economic empowerment

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A Northwestern University Capstone Project

Abstract

Much literature has explored the topic of integrating the reproductive health, educational attainment, and economic enhancement components of women empowerment; however a majority of this work has considered both economic enhancement and improved reproductive health to be a result of increased womens education level. This study sets out to test analternative model in which improved reproductive health leads to higher educational level among women, and additional education for women results in better womens economic performance. Using cross-country population data from 1995 through 2015 derived from the UNDP and World Bank Databank, linear regression models were first used to estimate womens educational level from their reproductive health indicators. Linear regression models were then used to study the impact of womens education level on their income level, labor force participation, and unemployment, adjusting for gender inequalities and reproductive health conditions. The analyses showed that total fertility rate has a more significant impact on women's educational attainment than adolescent birth rate or maternal mortality rate, and that increases in women's education significantly improve women's income level and labor force participation only in lowand upper-middle income economies while having minor effects on unemployment rates or all economic enhancement components in lower-middle income economies. This study indicates that further focus be given to reducing fertility through family planning and improving gender equality contexts in education in the developing world, and suggests that future studies examine whether the observed trends of education-labor participation and education-income associationsare related to the U-shaped curve of female labor participation with economic development.

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