A Comparative Study of the Determinants of Fertility Ideals among Employed and Unemployed Kurdish Women in the Sanandaj

For centuries¡ Iranian society has been the home of various ethnic groups. Recent demographic trends in Iran raises questions that how various ethnic groups in Iran respond to this changes? Having appropriate knowledge concerning reproductive behavior¡ and intentions of ethnic groups and factors influencing it¡ would play an important role in the understanding of population dynamics and trends in Iran. The purpose of the present study is to provide insights into the fertility ideals amongst employed and unemployed Kurdish women in the city of Sanandaj¡ Iran. Data were collected through a survey conducted in July 2014 covering 525 households including employed and unemployed women; Findings suggest that 73.8% of employed women in comparison with 69.7% of unemployed women in Sanandaj city are considering 2 children as their ideal number of children; while only 10.9% and 15.8% of women consider 3 children as the ideal number¡ respectively. Results of multivariate analysis has shown that independent variables under investigation explain more variance of fertility ideals amongst unemployed than employed women (33.5% vs. 6.2%). Study results have shown that “fatalism in fertility behavior” and “perception of expenses associated with having more children” are amongst those variables which are significantly related to fertility ideals for both employed and unemployed women. Moreover¡ the variable of “adherence to the big household values” has been directly and significantly related to fertility ideals. In sum¡ the results of the study support the hypothesis that a trend towards convergences in demographic attitudes and behaviors has been occurred similarly across diverse groups with different ethnic backgrounds or social positions in Iran.