EMPOWERMENT AND FERTILITY TRANSITION ON ANTIGUA, WI - EDUCATION, EMPLOYMENT, AND THE MORAL ECONOMY OF CHILDBEARING

This paper shows that Antiguan women's birth trajectories are functions of their view of the moral economy of childbearing, which in turn is a function of the conjunction of improved employment opportunities and increased educational attainment. Women's educational attainment, however, is a function of improved employment opportunities. Education by itself had almost nothing to do with Antigua's decline to replacement-level fertility. Education together with expanding employment opportunities had everything to do with it. Indeed, empowered women are ushering in a revolution in West Indian gender relations.