AccScience Publishing / IJPS / Volume 9 / Issue 2 / DOI: 10.36922/ijps.476
Cite this article
144
Download
1641
Views
Journal Browser
Volume | Year
Issue
Search
News and Announcements
View All
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Explaining the gender gap in reproductive transition of Ethiopian youths: A decomposition analysis

Tariku Dejene1* Eshetu Gurmu1
Show Less
1 Center for Population Studies, College of Development Studies, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
IJPS 2023, 9(2), 1–11; https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.476
Submitted: 3 March 2023 | Accepted: 6 April 2023 | Published: 17 April 2023
© 2023 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution -Noncommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0) ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ )
Abstract

The achievement of gender equality and ending all forms of disparity in the spheres of sexual and reproductive health are critical components of sustainable development goals. We endeavor to investigate the characteristics and/or structural sources of the gender gap in the reproductive transition among Ethiopian youths. The analysis was carried out using parts of data drawn from the 2011 and 2016 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey. The decomposition of the gender gap in the reproductive transition of youths into components was made using the Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition analysis for non-linear models. The results demonstrate that the delay in the age at first marriage among the youth was accompanied by an increase in the prevalence of premarital sex. Furthermore, the findings show that the gender gap in reproductive transition is triggered by both compositional and structural effects of covariates such as education, modern contraceptive use, and media exposure. Thus, in addition to reducing inequalities in education, media exposure, and deprivation between male and female youths, working on the structural components is recommended to close the gender gap in the reproductive transition of youths.

Keywords
Youths
Reproductive transition
Gender gap
Decomposition analysis
Ethiopia
Funding
None.
References

Abera, M., Nega, A., Tefera, Y., & Gelagay, A.A. (2020). Early marriage and women’s empowerment: The case of child-brides in Amhara National Regional State, Ethiopia. BMC International Health and Human Rights, 20(1): 30. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12914-020-00249-5

 

Ahonsi, B., Fuseini, K., Nai, D., Goldson, E., Owusu, S., Ndifuna, I., Humes, I., & Tapsoba, P.L. (2019). Child marriage in Ghana: Evidence from a multi-method study. BMC Women’s Health, 19: 126. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12905-019-0823-1

 

Avogo, W.A., & Somefun, O.D. (2019). Early marriage, cohabitation, and childbearing in West Africa. Journal of Environmental and Public Health, 2019: 9731756. https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/9731756

 

Bezie, M., & Addisu, D. (2019). Determinants of early marriage among married women in Injibara town, north West Ethiopia: Community-based cross-sectional study. BMC Women’s Health, 19(1): 134. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12905-019-0832-0

 

Blum, R.W. (2007). Youth in sub-Saharan Africa. Journal of Adolescent Health, 41(3): 230-238. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2007.04.005

 

Brittain, A.W., Williams, J.R., Zapata, L.B., Pazol, K., Romero, L.M., & Weik, T.S. (2015). Youth-friendly family planning services for young people: A systematic review. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 49(2): S73-S84. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2015.03.019

 

Chen, C., & Lin, H. (2011). Decomposing residential self-selection via a life-course perspective. Environment and Planning A, 43(11): 2608-2625. https://doi.org/10.1068/a43571

 

Coviello, V., & Boggess, M. (2004). Cumulative incidence estimation in the presence of competing risks. The Stata Journal, 4(2): 103-112.

 

CSA [Ethiopia] & ICF International. (2012). Ethiopia Demographic and Health Survey 2011. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: Central Statistical Agency and ICF International.

 

CSA [Ethiopia] & ICF International. (2016). Ethiopia Demographic and Health Survey 2016. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: Central Statistical Agency and ICF International.

 

Dejene, T., & Gurmu, E. (2022). Exploring reproductive trajectories of youths of Oromia, Ethiopia: A life course approach. PLoS One, 17: e0279773. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0279773

 

Dessalegn, M., Ayele, M., Hailu, Y., Addisu, G., Abebe, S., Solomon, H., Mogess, G., & Stulz, V. (2020). Gender inequality and the sexual and reproductive health status of young and older women in the afar region of Ethiopia. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(12): 4592. https://doi.org/10.3390/IJERPH17124592

 

Diez, E., Lopez, M.J., Perez, G., Garcia-Subirats, I., Nebot, L., Carreras, R., & Villalbi, J.R. (2020). Impact of a community contraceptive counselling intervention on adolescent fertility rates: A quasi-experimental study. BMC Public Health, 20(1): 26. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-019-8122-1

 

Dula, T. (2019). Impact of gender inequality in socio-economic development: The case of women in Ethiopia. Developing Country Studies, 9(11): 46-52. https://doi.org/10.7176/DCS/9-11-06

 

Erulkar, A.S., & Muthengi, E. (2009). Evaluation of berhane hewan : A program to delay child marriage in rural Ethiopia. International Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, 35(1): 6-14.

 

Ethiopia Statistics Service. (2021). Statistical Report on the 2021 Labor Force and Migration Survey. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: Central Statistics Agency.

 

Ethiopian Statistics Service. (2020). Population Size by Sex, Area and Density by Region, Zone and Wereda : July 2020. Available from: https://www.statsethiopia.gov.et/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Population-Projection_Weredas-as-of- July-2020.pdf [Last accessed on 2023 Apr 01].

 

Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. (2000). The Revised Family Code. Ethiopia: Negarit Gazetta.

 

Hailemariam, A. (2017). The second biggest African country undergoing rapid change: Ethiopia. In: Groth, H., & May, J.F. (eds.). Africa’s Population: In Search of a Demographic Dividend. New York City: Springer International Publishing, pp. 53-69.

 

He, P., Eriksson, F., Scheike, T.H., & Zhang, M.J. (2016). A proportional hazards regression model for the subdistribution with covariates-adjusted censoring weight for competing risks data. Scandinavian Journal of Statistics, 43(1): 103-122. https://doi.org/10.1111/sjos.12167

 

Hinchliffe, S.R., & Lambert, P.C. (2013). Flexible parametric modelling of cause-specific hazards to estimate cumulative incidence functions. BMC Medical Research Methodology, 13(13): 13. https://doi.org/10.1002/sim.7208

 

ICF. (2018). Demographic and Health Surveys Standard Recode Manual for DHS 7. Rockville, MA: ICF.

 

Jann, B. (2008). A stata implementation of the Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition. Stata Journal, 8(4): 453-479.

 

Jayachandran, S. (2015). The roots of gender inequality in developing countries. Annual Review of Economics, 7(1): 63-88. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-economics-080614-115404

 

Jebena, M.G., Tesfaye, M., Abashula, G., Balina, S., Jackson, R., Assefa, Y., Kifle, Y., Tesfaye, C., Yilma, M., Hiruy, A., Teklu, A., Bahru, B.A., Assefa, E., Demissie, M., Mitike, G., & Tushune, K. (2022). Barriers and facilitators of maternal health care services use among pastoralist women in Ethiopia: Systems thinking perspective. Pastoralism, 12(1): 27. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13570-022-00236-6

 

Kaiser, B. (2015). Detailed decompositions in nonlinear models. Applied Economics Letters, 22(1): 25-29. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504851.2014.907469

 

Kitila, S.B., Feyissa, G.T., & Wordofa, M.A. (2023). Why do women walk away from maternal health services in Southwest Ethiopia? A qualitative study of caregivers’ and clients’ perspectives. BMC Women’s Health, 23(1): 83. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12905-023-02207-4

 

Koski, A., Clark, S., & Nandi, A. (2017). Has child marriage declined in sub-Saharan Africa? An analysis of trends in 31 countries. Population and Development Review, 43(1): 7-29. https://doi.org/10.1111/padr.12035

 

Latouche, A., Allignol, A., Beyersmann, J., Labopin, M., & Fine, J.P. (2013). A competing risks analysis should report results on all cause-specific hazards and cumulative incidence functions. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 66: 648-653. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclinepi.2012.09.017

 

Liang, Y., & Yu, S. (2022). Does education help combat early marriage? The effect of compulsory schooling laws in China. Applied Economics, 54(55): 6361-6379. https://doi.org/10.1080/00036846.2022.2061906

 

Misunas, C., Erulkar, A., Apicella, L., Ngô, T., & Psaki, S. (2021). What influences girls’ age at marriage in Burkina Faso and Tanzania? Exploring the contribution of individual, household, and community level factors. Journal of Adolescent Health, 69(6): S46-S56. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2021.09.015

 

Munakampe, M.N., Fwemba, I., Zulu, J.M., & Michelo, C. (2021). Association between socioeconomic status and fertility among adolescents aged 15 to 19: An analysis of the 2013/2014 Zambia Demographic Health Survey (ZDHS). Reproductive Health, 18(1): 182. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12978-021-01230-8

 

Neal, S.E., & Hosegood, V. (2015). How reliable are reports of early adolescent reproductive and sexual health events in demographic and health surveys? International Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, 41(4): 210-217. https://doi.org/10.1363/4121015

 

Ngome, E., & Odimegwu, C. (2014). The social context of adolescent women’s use of modern contraceptives in Zimbabwe: A multilevel analysis. Reproductive Health, 11(1): 64. https://doi.org/10.1186/1742-4755-11-64

 

Nguyen, M.C., & Wodon, Q. (2015). Global and regional trends in child marriage. Review of Faith and International Affairs, 13(3): 6-11. https://doi.org/10.1080/15570274.2015.1075756

 

Petroni, S., Steinhaus, M., Fenn, N.S., Stoebenau, K., & Gregowski, A. (2017). New findings on child marriage in sub- Saharan Africa. Annals of Global Health, 83(5-6): 781-790. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aogh.2017.09.001

 

Piccarreta, R., & Studer, M. (2019). Holistic analysis of the life course: Methodological challenges and new perspectives. Advances in Life Course Research, 41: 100251. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.alcr.2018.10.004

 

Rahimi, E., & Hashemi Nazari, S.S. (2021). A detailed explanation and graphical representation of the Blinder- Oaxaca decomposition method with its application in health inequalities. Emerging Themes in Epidemiology, 18(12): 12. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12982-021-00100-9

 

Raj, A., Salazar, M., Jackson, E.C., Wyss, N., McClendon, K.A., Khanna, A., Belayneh, Y., & McDougal, L. (2019). Students and brides: A qualitative analysis of the relationship between girls’ education and early marriage in Ethiopia and India. BMC Public Health, 19(1): 19. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-018-6340-6

 

Rokicki, S. (2021). Impact of family law reform on adolescent reproductive health in Ethiopia: A quasi-experimental study. World Development, 144: 105484. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.WORLDDEV.2021.105484

 

Sánchez-Páez, D.A., & Ortega, J.A. (2018). Adolescent contraceptive use and its effects on fertility. Demographic Research, 38(1): 1359-1388. https://doi.org/10.4054/DemRes.2018.38.45

 

Sinning, M., Hahn, M., & Bauer, T.K. (2008). The Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition for nonlinear regression models. The Stata Journal, 8(4): 480-492.

 

Stark, L. (2018). Early marriage and cultural constructions of adulthood in two slums in Dar es Salaam. Culture, Health and Sexuality, 20(8), 888-901. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691058.2017.1390162

 

StataCorp. (2021). Stata Statistical Software: Release 17. USA: StataCorp LLC.

 

Stevenson, A.J., Genadek, K.R., Yeatman, S., Mollborn, S., & Menken, J.A. (2021). The impact of contraceptive access on high school graduation. Science Advances, 7(19): eabf6732. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abf6732

 

Tamirat, K.S., Tessema, Z.T., & Kebede, F.B. (2020). Factors associated with the perceived barriers of health care access among reproductive-age women in Ethiopia: A secondary data analysis of 2016 Ethiopian demographic and health survey. BMC Health Services Research, 20(1): 691. https://doi.org/10.1186/S12913-020-05485-Y/TABLES/4

 

UNDESA. (2023). Sustainable Development Goal 5: Achieve Gender Equality and Empower All Women and Girls. Available from: https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal5 [Last accessed on 2023 Feb 17].

 

UNESCO. (2023). Education and Literacy-Ethiopia. UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Available from: https://uis.unesco.org/en/country/et [Last accessed on 2023 Apr 04].

 

Usman, S.O., Olowoyeye, E., Usman, I.N., Omisakin, T.C., Adegbamigbe, O.J., Olubayo, G.P., Ibijola, A.A., Tijani, A.B., Fatunmbi, O., & Ipinmoye, T. (2018). Factors associated with teenage pregnancy in Southwest Nigeria. East African Medical Journal, 95(9): 1876-1888.

 

Wado, Y.D., Sully, E.A., & Mumah, J.N. (2019). Pregnancy and early motherhood among adolescents in five East African countries: A multi-level analysis of risk and protective factors. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, 19(1): 59. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12884-019-2204-z

 

Yates, B.J. (2011). Acculturation in the Däga : Local negotiations in Amhara/Oromo relations. International Journal of Ethiopian Studies, 5(2): 91-113.

 

Yates, B.J. (2020). The other abyssinians: The Northern Oromo and the creation of modern Ethiopia, 1855-1913. In: Rochester Studies in African History and the Diaspora. United States: University of Rochester Press.

Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Share
Back to top
International Journal of Population Studies, Electronic ISSN: 2424-8606 Print ISSN: 2424-8150, Published by AccScience Publishing