DEVELOPMENT CONTEXT, REGIONAL DIFFERENCES AMONG YOUNG-WOMEN, AND FERTILITY - THE ECUADORIAN AMAZON

This study examines macro-micro linkages between development context a nd fertility. We extend two conceptual approaches On the social contex t of fertility to an alternative development setting, the extractive p eriphery, represented by Ecuador's Amazon. Focus is on how relationshi ps between young women's social structural positions and fertility are modified by attributes of the region's development Data are from a fu ll population of young Ecuadorean women The fertility-reducing effects of women's education, student status, labor force participation and p aid employment are found to decline in the Amazon as a consequence of its family-based economy, class structure, and high-fertility demograp hic regime. Amazonian development entails costs to women evidenced in higher fertility and in that women in similar social positions experie nce less buffer against this trend in the Amazon.