Gender and social norms

GENDER AND SOCIAL NORMS

There is a direct correlation between reproductive health, economic development, and gender dynamics. Improved reproductive health is associated with lower total fertility rates, which in turn is one of the main drivers of a population’s age structure. Addressing gender barriers can help improve reproductive health outcomes, including fertility, and accelerate Egypt’s demographic dividend. Further, women with better reproductive health status tend to invest more resources in their own families’ health and education, with better human capital outcomes for their children and for themselves. Evidence shows that, on one hand, the rise in fertility rates can be a challenge for women’s empowerment and can have critical implications for human endowment outcomes, economic opportunities, and voice and agency (Baseera, nPC, and UnFPA 2017). On the other hand, several factors can affect women’s empowerment and consequently affect fertility rates. In short, enhancing gender equality and women’s empowerment can be important for reducing fertility.

Current challenges

gender and social norms and values affect fertility in different ways. some religious views related to FP can play a key role in increasing fertility rates, given that the religious discourse among some conservative groups opposes the use of contraceptives. It is also common among some families to prefer boys, which may lead them to keep having children until the woman gives birth to a boy.

Early marriage is also one of the key challenges influencing fertility, because it can have a considerable effect on women’s agency, health, and education. Despite laws banning child marriage, the practice is still common in Egypt for several reasons, including social norms, poverty, and low educational attainment. It is estimated that 6 percent of married females are ages 15–17 years and 27 percent are 18–19 years (Baseera, nPC, and UnFPA 2017).

Early marriage usually means childbearing at a young age, leading to higher fertility and more children over a woman’s lifetime, relative to women who marry at an older age. Moreover, early marriages usually entail power imbalances, because often young girls are married to considerably older men. Thus they may face difficulties in asserting their preferences, including negotiating safe sexual practices and FP methods, which may also lead to having more children. All these factors have significant consequences for fertility rates and women’s health and well-being.

Early marriage is also a factor contributing to women’s lack of participation in the labor market. It curtails educational attainment for girls, thereby reducing their chances of entering the labor market or negatively affecting the types of jobs they can engage in (Wodon, savadogo, and Kes 2017). Early marriage and early motherhood can therefore create a vicious circle that affects women’s agency, endowments, and economic and productive role, and results in increased fertility. social and cultural norms have a strong influence on gender roles and therefore on fertility choices and preferences in Egypt. One of these is the cultural perception that having a big family strengthens solidarity (ezwah) and creates a support system. For some poor families, children are regarded as an economic asset and a source of income, either current or future. This belief is in line with the literature on economic growth and demographics; that is, in labor-intensive,