abstract: 'This paper provides a narrative review of the literature that addresses

  the connection between women''s reproductive health and women''s economic

  activity. Women''s reproductive health, gender equality and decent work,

  are all part of the Sustainable Development Goals and this review

  highlights how these Goals are interconnected. The review focuses on the

  relationship between fertility and women''s work and provides a detailed

  discussion of the academic literature that identifies the causal effect

  of fertility on changes in female labor force participation. Fertility

  is captured by timing, spacing and number of chil-dren, and career

  advancement, job quality, and hours worked are addressed on the work

  side. The review contrasts the fertility-work nexus for low-, middle-and

  high-income countries separately, recognizing national income per capita

  as a moderator of the effect of fertility on female labor force

  participation. In low-income countries, where labor force participation

  is for the most part in the informal sector, women must adopt their own

  strategies for balancing child rearing and labor force participation,

  such as selection of job type, relying on other women in the household

  for childcare, and birth spacing to limit infants in their care. In

  middle-income countries, women juggle child rearing and labor force

  participation with the overarching issue of income inequality, and early

  childbearing and lone motherhood perpetuate poverty. For women in

  high-income countries, social protection policies can assist women in

  managing the balance of childrearing and work, but these policies do not

  address underlying issues of gender inequality. Despite these policies,

  career advancement is interrupted by childbearing. As the relationship

  between fertility and women''s work varies by income per capita across

  countries, polices that support women in achieving balance in their

  desired family size and accessing decent work varies across countries.

  (c) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.'
affiliation: 'Finlay, JE (Corresponding Author), Harvard TH Chan Sch Publ Hlth, Dept
  Global Hlth \& Populat, 665 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA 02115 USA.

  Finlay, Jocelyn E., Harvard TH Chan Sch Publ Hlth, Dept Global Hlth \& Populat,
  665 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA 02115 USA.'
article-number: '105313'
author: Finlay, Jocelyn E.
author-email: jfinlay@hsph.harvard.edu
author_list:
- family: Finlay
  given: Jocelyn E.
da: '2023-09-28'
doi: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.105313
earlyaccessdate: JAN 2021
eissn: 1873-5991
files: []
issn: 0305-750X
journal: WORLD DEVELOPMENT
keywords: 'Reproductive health; Fertility; Women?s labor force participation;

  Women?s economic empowerment; Sustainable Development Goals; Policy'
keywords-plus: 'LABOR-FORCE PARTICIPATION; FAMILY-PLANNING PROGRAMS; FEMALE EMPLOYMENT;

  LIFE-CYCLE; CHILD-CARE; SOCIOECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES; POPULATION POLICIES;

  DESIRED FERTILITY; OUTCOMES EVIDENCE; OECD COUNTRIES'
language: English
month: MAR
number-of-cited-references: '137'
orcid-numbers: Finlay, Jocelyn/0000-0002-3077-5515
papis_id: 3cea56a9955555d788a1e6ec6004eb27
ref: Finlay2021womensreproductive
researcherid-numbers: Finlay, Jocelyn/AAS-9588-2021
tags:
- relevant
- review
times-cited: '9'
title: 'Women''s reproductive health and economic activity: A narrative review'
type: Review
unique-id: WOS:000643731600002
usage-count-last-180-days: '6'
usage-count-since-2013: '40'
volume: '139'
web-of-science-categories: Development Studies; Economics
year: '2021'