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In this study, I used a life-table approach to estimate how much hypothetical reductions in pregnancy-related dropouts would help close the gender gap in educational attainment. Using the schooling histories of 6,686 pupils, I partitioned Cameroon's gender gap in education into "pregnancy-related" and "non-pregnancy-related" components and simulated the impact of reductions in pregnancy-related dropouts on this gap. The results suggest that such reductions would have substantial payoffs in this setting, but payoffs would be the greatest where societies also address gender inequities before puberty and outside the realm of pregnancy. Reductions in pregnancy-related dropouts complement but do not replace efforts to reduce gender discrimination in schooling. Recent data from Demographic and Health Surveys should make it possible to extend this analysis to other countries.

Contrary to theory and evidence from many other regions, previous studies in sub-Saharan Africa have found surprisingly weak associations between family size and schooling. It is unclear; however, whether these weak results reflect (spurious) limitations in methodology or (real) differences in context. This study uses schooling histories from Cameroon to test four contending methodological and contextual explanations for these weak results: measurement bias, statistical estimation bias, family buffering, and socioeconomic context. We find the strongest support for the last explanation: the relationship between family size and schooling varies with spatial and historical context. This relationship has strengthened within the country over time, and this raises concern about the implications of current demographic transitions on inequality among children.

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The welfare of rural families in many African countries depends on their solidarity ties with urban kin. These ties often channel remittances from urban workers and support the education and economic mobility of children from rural families through fosterage into urban families. The continued operation of these rural-urban solidarity networks, however, is challenged by recent economic downturns and increased urban poverty. Using Cameroon as a case study, we examine the effects of economic downturns on child fosterage as a component of changes in rural-urban solidarity. Results show a net decline in rural outfosterage rates during the years of economic decline. Such findings raise concern for the economic mobility prospects for children from rural families, especially in a climate of increased competition for limited formalsector employment.Rural communities in Africa are closely linked to urban centers through a dense network of social and family relationships. These links foster the development of symbiotic, mutually beneficial exchanges between rural and urban communities. Two manifestations of this symbiosis are exchanges of material goods and services and of children through fosterage (Caldwell and Caldwell 1987;Isiugo-Abanihe 1985;Mahieu 1989;Mensch, Bruce, and Greene 1998). Both types of exchange are critical to the welfare of many rural families. Fosterage in particular is crucial to the economic mobility of children from rural families. Because schools and employment opportunities are concentrated in urban areas, rural children who