Among the 22 Arab countries, Egypt ranks amongst the worst for the treatment of
women. Additionally, in the last 6 years, fertility surged to a 20-year high of 3.5 births per
woman. Poorer women’s status and autonomy is often linked to high fertility; however, little is
known about the factors that shape women’s autonomy and fertility in Egypt. This study
evaluates determinants of women’s autonomy and the relationship between autonomy and
fertility over time in a representative, longitudinal sample of women amidst a context of social
transition: Arab Spring Egypt.
Theory suggests that certain life course events, like educational achievement are
important in shaping women’s status and autonomy. Household and community effects on
women’s autonomy have yet to receive needed research attention. The research is guided by the
theory of gender and power and the life course perspective focusing on important events that
shape women’s autonomy at multiple levels over the life course. Furthermore, the relationship
between women’s autonomy and subsequent fertility behaviors is often assumed, but rarely
studied over time. In this study, I look at women’s autonomy and fertility over time in Egypt.
Data come from the 2006 and 2012 Egyptian Labor Market Panel Survey (ELMPS), a
nationally representative sample of households in Egypt and the 2008 Egyptian Demographic
and Health Survey (EDHS). I use multilevel and standard OLS and Logistic regression models to
show the relationship between individual, household, and community characteristics and
measures of women’s autonomy and the relationship between women’s autonomy and fertility.
Across all autonomy outcomes, region of household and household wealth are consistently
associated with women’s autonomy. As expected, due to the greater social conservatism in
Upper Egypt, the women in rural and urban Upper Egypt have less autonomy as compared to
women in the Cairo region. The rural/urban differences in autonomy with women in rural areas
being associated with less autonomy are also consistent with work that shows more patriarchal
views in rural Egypt.