Abstract:
The educational level of women in Sri Lanka is in a very high standard when
compared to other developing countries of the world. Even though women’s fertility and
reproductive behaviors are essentially biological phenomena, socio economic factors such
as education , employment opportunity, etc, has changed their reproductive behaviors. This
Study investigates the relationship between women’s education level and reproductive
behavior.
The objective of this study is to assess the impact of women’s education on their
reproductive behavior. The necessary information and data for the study were obtained
from 30 married women with babies in the Gampaha Municipal Council area. They were
selected by using simple random sampling method. A questionnaire with open interviews
and observations were used as methods of data collection.
The study forcuses on the factors such as age at marriage, minimum number of
children in the family, the use of contraceptives and time period between children. Under
the factor of women’s education, the survey concentrates on the number of years devoted
for education, vocational education, literacy rate, and sources of informal education. In
addition, the nature of employment, attitudes and values related to having children were
also studied. The findings suggest that female education has a greater capacity to introduce
novel reproductive ideas and behaviors and thereby transform the demographic structures
in Sri Lanka.
