La lectura lévinasiana de la obra de Husserl

4.4.1 CUMULATIVE FERTILITY

Table 4.7 presents the mean number of children ever born to currently married women aged 15-49 by selected characteristics. Ihe last three columns are: mean number of children standardized using 5-year age distribution of the total population as standard. The standardized mean number of children ever born to all currently married women indicates that fertility is lowest in the Mountains but about the same in the Hills and Plains. However, when the standardized mean number of children is examined for broad age group(15-34 and 35-49), women from the Plains have the highest fertility followed by women from the Hills and the Mountains. Among the older women(35-49) fertility is almost the same for the Hills and Plains but women in the Mountains continue to have lower fertility.

Detailed examination of fertility by age reveals that women from the Mountains have lower fertility than those from the Hills and Plains in each age-group up to 40-44. The mean number of children ever born is slightly higher among women from the Plains than from the Hills up to age 34. By age 35 and over, women from the Hills have slightly higher fertility, although this difference may be an artifact because of reporting errors. It is to be noted that mean numbers of children ever born calculated for age-groups 35-39, 40-44 and 45-49 have some inaccuracies in selected categories due to memory lapse. The same pattern of marital fertility by age has been observed in

TABLE 4.7: UNSTANDARDIZED AND STANDARDIZED MEAN NUMBER OF CHILDREN EVER BORN TO CURRENTLY MARRIED WOMEN AGED 15-49 BY DIFFERENT BACKGROUND CHARACTERISTICS AND AGE OF WOMAN, 1976.

Background characteristics

Age of woman (unstandardized) Age of woman!standardized)

15-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 Total 15-34 35-49 Total Geographical region Mountains 0.18 1.22 2.56 3.48 4.87 4.80 6.53 3.15 1.88 5.23 2.89 (38) (90) (71) (65) (63) (50) (34) (411 ) Hills 0.29 1 .44 2.83 4.13 5.27 5.76 6.35 3.30 2.19 5.70 3.24 (355) (570) (564) (406) (322) (337) ( 195) (2749) Plains 0.38 1.50 3.11 4.38 5.20 5.96 5.68 3.24 2.36 5.59 3.33 (320) (514) (473) (332) (270) (216) (154) (2279) Ethnicity Mongoloids 0.30 1.31 2.68 4.00 5.23 5.57 6.19 3.35 2.08 5.58 3.13 (147) (304) (303) (230) (184) (192) ( 121 ) (1481 ) Brahmins 0.28 1.53 3.12 4.20 5.39 6.32 7.03 3.10 2.31 6.11 3.45 (109) ( 146) (108) (80) (59) (53) (35) (590) Others 0.34 1 .49 3.02 4.27 5.15 5.76 5.90 3.23 2.30 5.55 3.27 (475) (747) (705) (494) (413) (357) (226) (3417) Religion Hindu 0.32 1 .48 2.95 4.18 5.23 5.77 6.22 3.27 2.25 5.66 3.27 (677) (1089) (1007) (756) (603) (547) (341 ) (5020 ) Non-Hindu 0.33 1 . 16 2.73 4.02 4.85 5.53 5.10 3.04 2.06 5.16 2.99 (52) (110) (108) (51) (56) (57) (40) (476) Education of husband No schooling 0.35 1.42 2.84 4.16 5.24 5.84 6.17 3.56 2.20 5.67 3.24 (367) (718) (766) (603) (532) (510) (321 ) (3817) Primary 0.26 1.32 2.87 3.92 4.93 5.27 5.13 2.22 2.11 5.10 3.01 (118) ( 168) (120) (51 ) (42) (26) (8) (533 ) Middle + 0.33 1.52 3.35 4.38 4.93 5.00 5.73 2.28 2.37 5.14 3.24 (186) (208) ( 145) (79) (30) (23) (15) (683 )

Work status of woman

Not working 0.38 1.56 3.09 4.30 5.20 5.68 5.89 3.33 2.35 5.54 3.31

(417) (681) (633) (470) (394) (335) (241 ) (3171)

Working 0.24 1.29 2.73 3.98 5.20 5.83 6.44 3.12 2.07 5.72 3.16

(312) (517) (481 ) (335) (265) (270) ( 141 ) (2321 ) Work status of husband

Farming 0.33 1.43 2.95 4.17 5.24 5.87 6.19 3.38 2.24 5.69 3.27 (514) (834) (814) (625) (517) (495) (308) (4107 ) Non-farming 0.36 1 .54 2.93 4.29 4.98 5.32 5.77 2.99 2.29 5.29 3.19 (143) (296) (255) ( 149) (115) (92) (65) (1115) Total 0.32 1 .45 2.93 4.17 5.20 5.74 6.10 3.24 (732) (1199) (1116) (807) (659) (605) (383) (5501)

Notes: Number inside the parentheses indicates number of women. Standard used here was 5 years age distribution of total women.

Number of women may not add up to total because of 'not reported' and 'don't know' cases. Source: Tabulated from the Nepal Fertility Survey, 1976, Standard Recode, version 1, London: ISI/WFS.

Nepal in a different data set[17] (Tuladhar, et _al., 1982:82).

There is a clear pattern of fertility differences by ethnicity and religion. Among all currently married women aged 15-49, Brahmins have higher standardized fertility than Mongoloids and others. Ihe standardized means by broad age-groups (15-34 and 35-49) indicate only small differences in fertility among younger women (15-34); Brahmins aged 35-49, on the other hand have higher fertility than the other two groups in the same age-group. Looking at the five year age groups, Brahmins have slightly higher mean number of children than the other two groups (Mongoloids and others) in all age-groups except 15-19. Likewise, Hindu women have slightly more children than non-Hindu women in all age-groups, as was expected.

The pattern of fertility differences by husband's education suggests an inverted U-shaped relationship. In every age-group, women whose husbands had primary education have slightly fewer births than those whose husbands did not have schooling. Nevertheless, the mean number of children increases, again, among those women whose husbands had middle or higher education. By age 35 and over, women whose husbands had no schooling tend to have a higher number of children

than those having husbands with primary or higher schooling.

There is a difference of 0.15 births between working and non-working among all currently married women aged 15-49. When examined by age-group, the data indicate that there is no consistent pattern of fertility difference. Ihe mean number of children by work

[17] Demographic surveys were conducted from 1975 to 1978 in four districts in the Hills and Plains(two from each). While selecting districts, they were matched on a set of social and demographic characteristics.

status and age shows that those who work tend to have slightly lower fertility than those who do not work, up to age 30—34. Among women aged 35 and older, the mean is slightly higher for those who worked than for those who did not. Ihe fertility differences by work status of husband present an interesting pattern. Up to age 30-34, there is no difference in fertility between women whose husbands worked in farm and non-farm occupations. By the time women reach an older age (35 years and older), those whose husbands are in farm occupations have higher fertility than women whose husbands are in non-farm occupations.

As we have observed earlier, there is some difference in mean ages at marriage among different sub-groups in the Nepalese population. The pattern of differences in marital fertility described does not take account of age at marriage. It has been stated in the literature that age at marriage is probably the most important determinant of cumulative fertility in societies where fertility control is least extensive and pre-marital fertility is much lower than marital fertility (Knodel, 1978:492). A strong inverse relationship between cumulative fertility and age at marriage is expected to be found under a regime of natural fertility.

Natural fertility as defined by Louis Henry (1961:81) is marital fertility in the absence of deliberate birth control. He demonstrated that there was a typical age pattern of natural fertility within marriage. However, the level of fertility does vary among different populations. Social factors such as sexual taboos during lactation and periods of separation due to seasonal migration of one of the spouses play a part in determining natural fertility(Henry, 1979:27).

According to Henry, these factors and biological factors control the behaviour of the couple. Thus factors which affect marital fertility but are independent of the number of children already born are not considered as fertility control. On the other hand, fertility is said to be controlled when the behaviour of the couple is bound to the number of children already born and is intended to delay or stop having more births which they do not wish to have.

Many of the factors that determine natural fertility have little direct evidence except age at marriage (Menken, 1979:4). In this section, the pattern of marital fertility is examined taking age at marriage into consideration.

Table 4.8 presents the mean number of children ever born to currently married women aged 15-49 by age at marriage. It is clear that there is a strong negative relationship between age at marriage and cumulative fertility. This pattern of fertility by ages at marriage is apparent in all age-groups[18]. This shows that there is a considerable impact of age at marriage on cumulative fertility. This phenomenon has been documented not only in other Asian contries but also in pre-industrial Europe (Wrigley, 1976, cited by Knodel,

1978:492 ) .

[18] In a society where fertility control is extensively practised, age at marriage does not always mark the beginning of the childbearing period. Page(1977:85-106) concluded that duration of marriage is also important to include along with age.

TABLE 4.8: MEAN NUMBER OF CHILDREN EVER BORN TO CURRENTLY