Rural West African Women: Will Empowerment Reduce Their Fertility?

Christine Ouedraogo, University of Ouagadougou

Rural Burkina Faso is among the last regions to show little signs of fertility decline. This paper examines what may be changing in the institutional factors sustaining high fertility. An ethnographic approach with in depth immersion is used in one village, where change is evident. The first set of changes affects the forms of marriage. This is linked to new patterns of sexual behavior and potentially new forms of reproductive decision-making. The second set of changes is the system of production, the women's position in the sexual division of labor and their access and control over resources. This improvement in women's status could lead to a reduction in the fertility. These changes can potentially induce a first step in the fertility transition. But until the value of children changes, it seems difficult to consider a high reduction of the fertility level in rural Burkina Faso.