Impact on fertility and perceived consequences of male foreign employment.

Thesis Report.

ABSTRACT:

Background: One of the reasons for the decline in fertility, despite the stable contraceptive prevalence rate in recent years could be the long time abstinence due to migration of husband for foreign employment (NDHS 2011). This thesis attempts to examine the impact of male foreign employment on fertility. Besides, consequences of male foreign employment perceived by community were assessed.

Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted in purposively selected Parroha Village Development Committee (VDC) of Rupandehi district of western Nepal. Married women of reproductive age (15-49 years) were selected randomly as the study population. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were performed to detect the effect of different explanatory variables on number of children ever born. Perceived consequences of male foreign employment were assessed using focus group discussion.

Results: Perceived ideal family size, duration of marital relationship, sex of first child, use of contraception, ethnicity, women education, and economic status were significantly associated with number of children ever born, controlling other factors. Although, there were 0.39 less children ever born among spouses of foreign employee compared their counterparts, the association between male foreign employment and number of children ever born was insignificant, net of other factors. Improvement in overall standard of living, improvement in women status, etc, were some positive consequences and use of remittance in non productive sector, substance abuse among adolescents, psychological problems among women, disintegration of family, extramarital affairs, etc were identified as negative consequences of male foreign employment.

Conclusion: The decline in fertility could be due to the improvement in socioeconomic status rather than long time abstinence resulting from male foreign employment. Programs on women's education and economic opportunities for family are important to achieve required level of fertility. Use of remittance should be directed to productive sector for the sustainability of economic improvement. Furthermore, problems arose due to male foreign employment; need to be addressed by concerned stakeholders.