Cross Sectional Study of Women Employment and Fertility In Ethiopia

Women employment is one of the economic variables which may determine the fertility behavior of women. Unlike western nations, very limited studies have been conducting regarding the relationship between women employment and fertility behavior of women in developing countries, specifically in sub-Saharan African countries. In this paper the association between employment status and fertility behavior of married women is assessed in the context of Ethiopia. The analysis is made based on the 2000 and 2005 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS 2000 and EDHS 2005) data. The findings show that there was insignificance relationship between women employment status and fertility behavior at a country level. However, this relationship is turned and got significantly negative relationship in urban areas of Ethiopia. And it is also found that there was no significant variation in the association between women employment and fertility level among the two cross sectional years (2000 and 2005)under consideration