Ethnicity, gender and fertility preferences in Nigeria

(1) In the first of these -- Women"s Control Over Resources and Demand for Children: the Hausa and Yoruba Cases -- researchers found that women in the Yoruba society have a higher socioeconomic status and lower demand for children, but that in both societies women who work and control their own income are more likely to say they want no more children. (2) In the second paper -- Ethnicity, Fertility, and Gender Preferences in Nigeria -- researchers found that demand for children was highest in groups that had the most restrictive gender roles, the Hausa and Kanuri, whereas wives in groups with more autonomy, the Ijaw, Ibo, and Yoruba, were more likely to say they wanted no more children. (3) The third paper -- Sex Preferences, Women"s Social Control, and Parity Progression in Hausa, Ibo, and Yoruba Societies -- found that birth of a son can lengthen the time a woman wishes to wait before another pregnancy, but that effect does not vary by ethnic group, and that women who have no sons or few sons experience shorter birth intervals, and that this pattern occurs in all three societies and is not conditioned by women"s socioeconomic status. (4) In the fourth paper -- Spousal Agreement, Women"s Status, and Family Planning in Nigeria -- researchers found that couples in the Ibo, Ijaw, and Yoruba groups were more receptive to family planning than those in the Kanuri and Hausa groups, that husband"s secondary education had a positive impact on a couple"s use of family planning, but that a wife"s ethnic group membership was the strongest indicator of family planning use. In addition, spouses in groups with strong patriarchal structure were less likely to use family planning, and those in groups with highest educational levels were more likely to use family planning. (5) The fifth paper presents a literature review on reproductive decision-making in Nigeria.