While statistical research into women's labor-force participation and women's use of contraception has not produced clear findings, the conceptual links are clear. With effective contraception, women are better able to work when they need to without the interruption of unplanned childbearing. Women also may find the burden of household work somewhat lightened. In addition to caring for children, women nurse the sick. Women in developing countries raise 50% to 90% of their families' food (340). In most rural areas women spend long hours carrying water, gathering fuel, and preparing and cooking food. How spacing and limiting births influence the daily lives of women working in the home also deserves research.

Wherever unplanned pregnancy would limit the types of work available to women, effective contraceptive use may help provide women with broader opportunities to obtain the economic security of a job. When a woman cannot be sure of avoiding pregnancy, her occupational choices often are limited. She may have to find employment that can be combined with childcare, that permits flexible hours, and that is easy to enter and leave frequently. Such jobs typically earn low, static wages. Most such jobs are in the informal sector of developing economies--for example, agriculture and petty trade. Even in the formal sector of developed countries, such jobs as nursing and teaching have been held mostly by women since employers did not care if pregnancy forced teachers or nurses to leave after a few years on the job. Seen as jobs that young women held until they had a family, these professions have commonly been paid less and offered less opportunity for advancement and less status (22).

More detailed studies, rather than large-scale statistical analyses of fertility levels and labor force participation, may offer a clearer view of how contraceptive use and employment are linked. For example, in Nigeria researchers found that young unmarried women out of school were using contraception in order to work longer before marriage. In one area studied, 75% of single women ages 18 to 25 were using contraception, more than five times the contraceptive prevalence of married women in the same age group (40).

Of course, many factors other than contraception affect women's employment. Women's autonomy within the family is one such factor (194). In some countries cultural norms call for women to remain at home no matter what their own preferences are. Also, some employers discriminate against women, partly because employers assume that women's commitment to their jobs is weaker than men's. Nevertheless, in modernizing economies women are an increasingly important part of the labor force (340). Where contraception is widely available and its use is accepted, employers can be more confident that female workers will not be forced to leave because of unplanned pregnancies. At the same time, however, the possibility that a woman may become pregnant is not legitimate grounds for denying her a job.

When women have access to contraception and new economic opportunities, many take advantage of both. In Bangladesh the Grameen Bank offers poor women small loans for income-generating projects. The women attend regular meetings at which they receive advice on their projects. They also learn the "Sixteen Decisions"—resolutions to make changes in their lives including planting vegetables, educating their children, and having small families. Women who have taken advantage of this new economic opportunity are more likely to be using contraception than women who are not receiving loans (293).