Changements démographiques et inégalités éducatives à Ouagadougou

The relationship between the family size decline and children human’s capital investment has been well-studied for several decades. In most developed and emergent countries, several studies showed that the reduction in family size seems to increase the investment in the children’s education, arguing the dilution effect of each additional child on family resources. More recently, empirical studies shows this reduction tends also to improve substantially schooling levels in Sub-Saharan Countries, mostly in urban areas. Nevertheless, little is known about the distribution of these potential benefits neither how that may affect existing educational inequalities, particularly in the context of urban sub-Saharan Africa. Our study focuses on exploring the demographic dimension of educational inequalities in the context of Ouagadougou, Capital of Burkina Faso, where the fertility transition is actually ongoing. More precisely, this study seeks to understand the effect of reduction in family size on intra-family inequalities in education and secondly, on the reproduction of educational inequalities over time and generations. For that purpose, we developed on one hand a conceptual framework to understand the mechanism by which reduction in family could influence on education inequalities. Secondly, we have undertaken empirical analysis to test our hypotheses. The empirical results are presented in three scientific papers, which based on data from the Demographic Surveillance System and Health and Dentrend project.  Findings from the first paper suggest that the relationship between the family size and education has shifted over time, according to the socioeconomic context. Indeed, the generations that are grown in a socioeconomic context where formal education was not valued in the labor market and the economic contributions of children were substantial as farm laborer, the relationship was very low, positive, and not statistically significant. By contrast, for recent generations, we observed that the relationship is negative and highly significant. In addition, the results of this paper also suggest that the family of origin impacts on the women’s reproductive behavior. Those whose original family was not poor and well-educated have smaller families. In turn, their children are also more educated. That suggests a potential leverage effect of the reduction in family size on the intergenerational transmission of socioeconomic disadvantages, particularly in terms of education. The second paper takes a look at intra-family inequalities in education in Ouagadougou. Do all the children in a family benefit equitably from the improved conditions brought about by limiting their number? The results suggest that generally smaller families allow more investment in children’s education. Nonetheless, oldest girls are less educated than their peers. The deficit remains even after considering only monogamous family households or after controlling the composition of the sibling. The absence of the mothers at home eased by the reduction in family size and the men’s failure to share household chores could explain this situation. Unfortunately, we were unable to control for economic activity of mothers. Finally, in the last paper, we evaluated the net impact of having been fostered in the past on the education of young adolescents (16-20 years old), comparing those who have been fostered to their sibling who has never been fostered. In this article, contrary to previous studies, we have considered the heterogeneous aspect of fostering by differentiating by sex, the mother's relationship with the host household and the age at the time of fostering. The results show a negative impact of child fostering on education, even after controlling for the endogeneity problem. However, this negative effect is greater on girls. The life’s conditions of fostered girls in host household could explain this differential effect. Finally, in the third and final article, we examined the effect of having been entrusted the education of children, comparing those who have been entrusted to other members of their siblings who have never been entrusted. In this article, contrary to previous studies, we have considered the heterogeneous aspect of fostering by differentiating by sex, the mother's relationship with the host and the ages at which the child has been entrusted. The results show that having been given in the past adversely affects the schooling of children. However, after considering some interacting variables, this negative effect remains strong and significant only for adolescent girls. These girls seem to fit the profile of additional hands for household chores, which are needed due the demographic deficits consequent to the reduction in family size in urban areas.

Keyphrases: Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, Child Fostering, Educational Inequality, Intergenerational Transmission, Urban Africa, Demographic Changes, Development, Family Size