UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL STUDIES HO CHI MINH CITY THE HAGUE VIETNAM THE NETHERLANDS VIETNAM – NETHERLANDS PROGRAM FOR M.A IN DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS HOW DO WOMEN’S EDUCATION AND CAREER AFFECT THEIR DECISION ON MARRIAGE AND MOTHERHOOD? A CASE STUDY FOR VIETNAM BY TRUONG UYEN PHUONG Academic Supervisor Dr. TRUONG DANG THUY DECEMBER 15th, 2016 Page 1 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The first thing I would like to express is my deepest gratitude to my academic supervisor Dr. Truong Dang Thuy. Thanks for your enthusiastic, patient and dedicated support for guiding me to implement this thesis and overcome many difficulties during the entire process.
Once again, I am really appreciated your valuable encouragement. I would like to give my appreciation to all lecturers in Vietnam – Netherlands Program, who have provided me such useful knowledge that I can applied to this thesis as well as in my future’s job. I am grateful to all staffs of Vietnam – Netherlands Program and all of my friends for your help. I deeply treasure all the moments we have and share with each other.
Yet I have still had a lot of mistakes, I really expect all teachers to give sincere remarks to me to be better. And the last one is our best wishes to all of you. Page 2 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com ABSTRACT Nowadays, time to marry has been earlier among women in developing countries, and time of entry into first marriage has each particular effect on health issue of women and their children. However, there are not many researches focusing on this area, especially for the case of Southeast Asia countries.
Therefore, this paper is designated for filling this gap, and I choose the case of Vietnam for analysis to investigate the association between social factors such as education, ethnic, religion, and income and on women’s first marriage and childbirth decisions. The dataset is established from a random online survey with 505 respondents including men and women, but the purpose of this paper is not suitable for men, then male’s respondents are automatically excluded from the dataset. Consequently, my sample consists of 304 women aged 18 to 66, which is divided into birth cohort in order to find whether there is any difference in marriage or rearing children among generations. Survival model analysis is applied to give the probability of getting marriage at a specific time of women’s life.
The study found that educational level, income, time of first intercourse, promotion achievement have significant impacts on women’s marriage decision and fertility. Page 3 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1. 9 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2. Theory of Marriage & The division of Labor.
Theory of Marriage Market. Theory of Fertility. REVIEW OF EMPIRICAL STUDIES. 21 CHAPTER 3: DATA AND METHODOLOGY 3.
27 CHAPTER 4: EMPIRICAL RESULT 4.Result for First-Marriage .Result for First-Birth. MAIN FINDINGS & RECOMMENDATION. LIMITATION AND FURTHER STUDIES. 84 Page 4 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com LIST OF TABLES Table 3.
First-Marriage Variables Description (Education and Career Variables) Table 3. First-Marriage Variables Description (Social Background Variables) Table 3. First-Birth Variables Description (Education and Career Variables) Table 3. First-Birth Variables Description (Social Background Variables) Table 3.
First-Birth Variables Description (Social Background Variables) Table 4. Summary statistics of First marriage Table 4. Summary statistics of Women’s educational level at first marriage Table 4. Summary statistics of Women’s promotion achievement at first marriage Table 4.
Summary statistics of Job movement at first marriage Table 4. Summary statistics of Job at first marriage Table 4. Summary statistics of Birth cohort Table 4. Summary statistics of Residence at first marriage and first birth Table 4.
Summary statistics of being a chief income earner at first marriage Table 4. Summary statistics of acestor worship at first marriage and first birth Table 4. Summary statistics of Religion at first marriage and first birth Table 4. Summary statistics of Birth order at first marriage and first birth Table 4.
Summary statistics of Father’s education at first marriage and first birth Table 4. Summary statistics of Mother’s education at first marriage and first birth Table 4. Summary statistics of Father’s job at first marriage and first birth Table 4. Summary statistics of Mother’s job at first marriage and first birth Table 4.
Summary statistics of First birth Table 4. Summary statistics of Educational level at first birth Table 4. Summary statistics of Promotion achievement at First birth Table 4. Summary statistics of Job movement at First birth Table 4.
Summary statistics of Job at First birth Table 4. Summary statistics of Living arrangement at First birth Table 4. Summary statistics of Housework regularity at First birth Table 4. Summary statistics of Abortion at First birth Table 4.
Summary statistics of Contraceptive knowledge at First birth Table 4. Summary statistics of Age at First intercourse Page 5 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail. Summary statistics of Contraceptive type at First birth Table 4. Summary statistics of Women’s wealth at first marriage and first birth Table 4.
Results for First marriage by Exponential and Cox regression Model Table 4. Results for First birth by Exponential and Cox regression Model (Educational and Career opportunities variables) Table 4. Results for First marriage by Exponential and Cox regression Model (Social background variables) Graph 1. Probability of remaining single by women’s age Graph 2.
Probability of remaining single by women’s birth cohort Graph 3. Probability of remaining single by women’s educational level Graph 4. Probability of remaining single by women’s job Graph 5. Probability of remaining single by women’s promotion achievement Graph 6.
Probability of remaining single by women’s job movement Graph 7. Probability of not having first child by Age Graph 8. Probability of not having first child by birth cohort Graph 9. Probability of not having first child by women’s education Graph 10.
Probability of not having first child by women’s job Graph 11. Probability of not having first child by women’s promotion achievement Graph 12. Probability of not having first child by women’s job movement Graph 13. Probability of marriage by educational level Graph 14.
Probability of marriage by promotion achievement Graph 15. Probability of marriage by Job movement Graph 16. Probability of marriage by Job Graph 17. Probability of fertility by educational level Graph 18.
Probability of fertility by promotion achievement Graph 19. Probability of fertility by job movement Graph 20. Probability of fertility by Job Page 6 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com Chapter 1 Introduction 1. RESEARCH PROBLEM In recent years, economists have frequently used economic theory to explain the behavior outside economic sector, for example, crime, education, politics, corruption, fertility and so on.
Yet, one type of behavior has been paid less attention is the behavior of marriage. Nowadays, young women are more different than the previous generation since they are able to profit from education. The occupational structure of the labor force is being transformed, and the number of women pursuing higher education has risen, then the relationship between women’s economic independence (resulting from higher education and job offering) and age of first marriage has been one of the central topics among demographers. According to many researchers for example Elder, 1972; Waite & Spitze, 1981, the traditional path of determining age at first marriage among women is through an array of variables, such as ethnicity, place of birth, birth order, number of siblings, women’s parents’ social class.
Over a long period of time, the scope of this area has been realized and the concentration of some papers relating to this field has transferred from a mere determinant to the effects of educational and career achievement on the time of entry into first marriage. This trend in research analysis is properly comprehensible with visible evidence of postwar era in numerous countries. The more investment in education and opportunities for employment has induced women to look for work in labor market, which leads to releasing from financial support of their husbands and great success in career. Moreover, marriage age has increased significantly in many developed countries around the world.
Census Bureau, 2010, the median marriage age for women and men in 1950-1960 Page 7 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com was 20 and 23 respectively; it increased to 27 and 29 in 2013. The situation is more serious for the case of Germany, Netherlands, Denmark, United Kingdom, South Korea, Taiwan and many other countries with the range from 29 to 32. A great number of studies had been done for Western Germany, for instance, the paper of Diekmann (1990) found that the expansion of education has move the median age of marry upward almost one year. Although various researches have been conducted to identify the main factors of this trend among advanced countries, (e.g Blossfeld & Huinink, 1991; Cherlin, 1980; Diekmann, 1989; Elder & Rockwell, 1976; Hoem, 1985; Hoem & Hoem, 1987; Hogan, 1978; Huinink, 1987; Marini, 1985), very few studies are undertaken for less developed countries.
Finally, marriage and fertility are connected processes, assuming that fertility often takes place within marriage and contraceptive practices are non-existent, there is an inverse relationship between time at first marriage and fertility. Specially, in a Southeast Asian country like Vietnam, where traditional value is highly evaluated, woman must be married before having her first baby. As educational level affects family formation, it also has direct impact on pregnancy decision. Women’s increased control over fertility, a better chance to access to higher education, and a fall in discrimination will offer women a stable income, Goldin and Katz (2002), Blau and Kahn (1997, 2000), so they tend to earn more and more to prepare for children’s life.
In Viet Nam, the age of first marriage of women is 22.8 years of age. This figure did not change in the last one and a half decade (source), while that of men increased from 25. Age of first marriage of Vietnamese women is comparable to Southeast Asian countries, for example Cambodia Thailand 21, Malaysia 25.3, but quite low comparing to that of developed countries, for example Canada 29.1, UK 30 and the Netherlands 30. Women in these developed countries obviously have higher education and career opportunities compared to Vietnamese women.
One question arises is that whether Vietnamese women delay their optimal time for first marriage and birth change when having more education and career opportunities. And what is the association Page 8 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com between education and delayed first marriage and childbirth? The answers to this question is quite important for a range of policies, including family planning, schooling and education services, and the planning of health care and child care services. This paper is also to find out the answer for the questions and help to diminish the anxiety and distress women have to encounter when their time of first children is delayed more than they or society expects. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES This study focuses on the question of how the improvement in women’s education affects their marriage behavior and child-bearing decision, which is built on the “New home economics” theory.
A highly positive relation between years of schooling and marriage age is broadly accept; in other words, higher educational level is a causal factor for marriage postponing. We will take into account some hypothesis such as “independence hypothesis”, “specialization hypothesis”, “human capital effect”, “institution effect” in order to answer the basic question is whether higher education level delays marriage or if it also reduces marriage intensity. In order to answer this question, I use the technique of “Survival analysis” to examine how the probability of entry into first marriage and motherhood changes over ages. Particularly in this study, the application of survival analysis will help investigating how education and career change the rate of women entering first marriage and motherhood.
This is to provide information on the potential benefits of policies that improve women education and career opportunities.