Fertility transition in Nepal: role of women's autonomy

Since 1976, when Nepal recorded 6.33 TFR, fertility started declining slowly until 2000. After the new millennium, fertility decline was much faster than ever. During the period of last 35 years Nepal observed a decline of 3.73 births of which more than 2 births reduction was in last 15 years. This study argues besides the conventional factors of fertility decline - socioeconomic development and organized family planning- women's autonomy in decision making has important role to sustain the fertility decline in Nepal.
Using data from NDHS 2001, 2006 and 2011, the study concludes that women's autonomy is significantly influenced by the socio-economic characteristics, particularly women's education and employment while husband's employment and education have negative impact. It also concludes that women exercising autonomy in decision making of household and individual affairs tend to prefer smaller number of children, one of the reasons of secular fertility decline. The study raises some methodological questions on the indicators used by DHS and on theoretical construct of women's autonomy. The indicators used by DHS are insufficient to capture women's autonomy dynamics. Likewise, as the women's socio-economic status improves they tend to make joint decision which questions on the theoretical construct of autonomy.