Unveiling youth fertility aspirations: The role of gender attitudes in sub-Saharan Africa

Juliette De Vestel, Sylvie Gadeyne

Abstract

High fertility preferences and strong socio-cultural norms around gender and family slow fertility transitions in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). We examine how gender attitudes shape fertility preferences among youth aged 15–24 using Demographic and Health Survey data from 10 high-fertility SSA countries (total fertility rate ≥5 in 2015–20). We conduct pooled and country-specific negative binomial regressions separately for men and women, relating attitudes towards wife beating and gender preferences for children to the ideal number of children. Tolerance of wife beating is associated with 7% higher desired fertility for both men and women (IRR=1.07, p<0.001), with substantial cross-country variation in magnitude and direction, particularly among women. Gender preferences (son, daughter, or none versus balanced) show clear differences between men and women; these associations are generally positive for men and mixed for women, although modest in magnitude. This study finds marked variation across and within countries, highlighting context- and gender-specific patterns in how gender attitudes relate to young people’s fertility preferences in high-fertility SSA

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