Women's labor, fertility, and the introduction of modern technology in a rural Maya village

In the mid 1970s, the introduction of modern technology into Maya subsistence agricultural village markedly increased the efficiency with which maize could be ground and water collected. This change in labor efficiency introduced a possible savings in the overall time that women allocate to work and, importantly, to energetic work. This article documents the response of female fertility to the introduction of laborsaving technology. Using two proximate determinants of female fertility, we look at the association between the advent of modern technology and changes in the age at which women give birth to their first child and the length of mothers' birth intervals. Analyses show that since the introduction of laborsaving technology, mothers have their first child at a younger age. Changes in birth intervals are less conclusive. Although completed family size is not known because many of the women in the sample are still in their childbearing years, women who initiate reproduction at a younger age can potentially have longer reproductive careers and larger families. Examining the relationship between female fertility and modern technology has important implications for the changes in demographics and economics now going on in many developing communities.