Does poverty matter? Female autonomy and fertility - a study of two rural areas in Kenya.

The relationships between poverty, female autonomy and fertility are spelled out in everyday life although scientific causalities are complex to disentangle. This paper is based on two rounds of qualitative studies in rural Kenya. The two areas, in Western and Coast Provinces are characterized by high levels of poverty combined with variations in fertility development. After 1989 Kenya experienced fertility decline, which came to a halt from the end of the 1990s. Western Province follows this development, while in Coast only modest fertility changes have taken place. Given widespread poverty in both areas, this paper asks if women possess different spaces of autonomy, and if so, what implications can be traced for family planning and fertility. The first round of case studies was carried out in Bungoma, Western Province in 1988 (Jensen and Juma, 1989) and Kwale, Coast Province in 1991 (Jensen and Khasakhala, 1993). The second round was a follow-up of the previous studies, carried out in 2011. The case studies have been carried out just before the general fertility decline and at the end – at a time when the question is whether a new decline may be in motion.