Page 7 - IJPS-9-2

International Journal of

Population Studies

RESEARCH ARTICLE
Explaining the gender gap in reproductive

transition of Ethiopian youths: A decomposition
analysis

Tariku Dejene* and Eshetu Gurmu

Center for Population Studies, College of Development Studies, Addis Ababa University, Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia

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
*Corresponding author:
Tariku Dejene and female youths, working on the structural components is recommended to close
(tariku.dejene@aau.edu.et) the gender gap in the reproductive transition of youths.
Citation: Dejene, T., & Gurmu, E.
(2023). Explaining the gender
gap in reproductive transition of Keywords: Youths; Reproductive transition; Gender gap; Decomposition analysis; Ethiopia
Ethiopian youths: A decomposition
analysis. International Journal of
Population Studies, 9(2): 1-11.
https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.476 1. Introduction
Received: March 3, 2023
In many areas, including education, health, and economic empowerment, there is a
Accepted: April 6, 2023 significant gender disparity, particularly in developing nations (Jayachandran, 2015).
Published Online: April 17, 2023 Goal 5 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) promises an end to all forms of
Copyright: © 2023 Author(s). gender disparity everywhere and to achieve gender equality by 2030. However, the
This is an Open Access article United Nations admits that the world is falling behind in terms of progress toward
distributed under the terms of the gender equality (UNDESA, 2023). The inequality is caused by a complex set of factors,
Creative Commons Attribution
License, permitting distribution, including economic and cultural norms, as well as the interaction of these factors
and reproduction in any medium, (Jayachandran, 2015).
provided the original work is
properly cited. Ethiopia is one of Africa’s demographic powerhouses (Hailemariam, 2017). Women
Publisher’s Note: AccScience and girls constitute half of Ethiopia’s population (Ethiopian Statistics Service, 2020), and
Publishing remains neutral with they are more vulnerable than men. In Ethiopia, a woman’s worth is determined by her
regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional role as a wife and a mother, and compared to men, women face a wide range of barriers
affiliations. and have limited access to economic, social, and political empowerment (Dessalegn

Volume 9 Issue 2 (2023) 1 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.476