Women’s Agency in Egypt, Jordan, and Tunisia: The Role of Parenthood and Education

Abstract

Women in Middle Eastern and North African countries continue to report low levels of agency, despite their increasing educational attainment and declining fertility rates. We address this paradox by considering how women’s agency is linked to parenthood in Egypt, Jordan, and Tunisia and how this association is moderated by their level of education. We study three dimensions of instrumental agency: involvement in decision-making, financial autonomy, and freedom of movement using data for married women aged 18–49 from the Integrated Labor Market Panel Surveys: Egypt 2012 (n = 7622), Jordan 2016 (n = 4550), Tunisia 2014 (n = 1480). Results from multivariate regression models of these different dimensions demonstrate that married women who are mothers generally exhibit higher levels of agency than their counterparts who are childless, though this does not hold for every dimension and the strength of the association between parenthood and agency differs by dimension and country. We find a notable exception to this pattern of positive association in the Egyptian sample: parenthood decreases agency among Egyptian women with post-secondary education. Our results suggest that parenthood may only increase women’s agency in settings with deeply entrenched patriarchal norms that imply little education for women.

Women's agency and childbirth: The effect of transition to motherhood and subsequent births on women's agency in Egypt

“…This situation persists despite Egyptian women's high educational attainment and nearly closed education gender gap (Krafft et al, 2022;World Economic Forum, 2021), which is also known as the "MENA paradox" (Assaad et al, 2020). Education and employment can serve as resources for women's agency: Women with more education realize higher levels of agency than low-educated women (Friedrich et al, 2021;Samari & Pebley, 2018;Yount, 2005). Salem et al (2018) shows that women in rural Minya, Egypt who engage in subsistence or market work have greater freedom of movement than women who do not.…”

“…One partial explanation for the positive associations between realized fertility and instrumental agency could be reverse causality, meaning that motherhood or a higher number of children might positively affect women's agency in the Egyptian context. However, research on the effect of childbirth on women's agency is rare (MENA: Friedrich et al, 2021;Samari, 2017a;India: Reed, 2021), and results are mixed. A study in India using data from two waves of the Indian Human Development Study (IHDS) and estimating fixed effects regression models shows that women's freedom of movement and access to enabling resources, but not decision-making power, are higher after the transition to motherhood (Reed, 2021).…”

“…Countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) are characterized as "neopatriarchal societies," in which the husband is traditionally expected to financially provide for and protect his wife and children, while the wife is expected to obey her husband and is responsible for household and childrearing tasks (Moghadam, 2004). In this context, relatively low levels of women's decision-making, financial autonomy, and freedom of movement can be found (Charmes et al, 2015;Friedrich et al, 2021).…”

“…Since childbearing is an integral part of women's life course, and since the literature indicates that bearing children has a positive impact on women's value and social position in patriarchal contexts (Kabeer, 1999;Yount et al, 2016), the question arises whether birth transitions might influence women's agency. However, research on the effect of childbirth on women's agency is rare (MENA: Friedrich et al, 2021;Samari, 2017a;India: Reed, 2021). Samari (2017a) and Friedrich et al (2021) have shown positive associations between motherhood and women's agency in countries in the MENA region.…”

“…However, research on the effect of childbirth on women's agency is rare (MENA: Friedrich et al, 2021;Samari, 2017a;India: Reed, 2021). Samari (2017a) and Friedrich et al (2021) have shown positive associations between motherhood and women's agency in countries in the MENA region. Both studies provide valuable first insights into the relationship between childbirth and agency in this region; however, their methods rest on the strong assumption of exogeneity of the time-constant unobserved heterogeneity, which is likely to be violated.…”