Page 223 - Environment: The Science Behind the Stories

THE SCIENCE BEHINd THE STORy

did Soap Operas
Reduce Fertility
in Brazil?

Over the past 50 years, the South
American nation of Brazil experienced
the second-largest drop in fertility
among developing nations with large
populations—second only to China.
In the 1960s, the average woman in
Brazil had six children. Today, Brazil’s
total fertility rate is 1.9 children per
woman, which is lower than that of the
United States. Brazil’s drastic decrease
in fertility is interesting because, unlike
China, it occurred without governmen-
tal policies that advocated controls on
its citizens’ reproduction.
So how did Brazil accomplish this? brazilian soap operas, called telenovelas, are a surprising cultural force for promoting
A major factor was change in society’s lower fertility. Here, residents gather outside a cafe in Rio de Janeiro to watch the popu-
view of women. It began with a civil lar program Avenida Brasil.
rights movement in the 1960s, which
gave females equal access to education
and the opportunity to pursue careers China; the procedure is illegal except in characters, settings, and plot lines
outside the home. These efforts have rare circumstances. with which everyday Brazilians can
been highly successful. Women now As Brazil’s economy grew with identify.
comprise 40% of the workforce in Brazil industrialization, people’s nutrition Telenovelas do not overtly
and graduate from college in greater and access to health care improved, address fertility issues, but they
numbers than men. And in 2010, greatly reducing infant mortality rates. do promote a vision of the “ideal”
Brazilians elected a woman, Dilma Families no longer needed to have Brazilian family. This family is typically
Rousseff, as their nation’s president. more children than they desired for fear middle or upper class, materialistic,
Although the Brazilian government one or more would die at a young age. individualistic, and full of empow-
does not put restrictions on people’s Increasing personal wealth promoted ered women. By challenging existing
reproduction, it provides family planning materialism and greater emphasis on cultural and religious values through
and contraception to all its citizens free career and possessions over family their characters, novelas had, and
of charge. Eighty percent of married and children. The nation also urbanized continue to have, a profound impact
women of childbearing age in Brazil as people flocked to growing cities on Brazilian society. In essence, these
currently utilize contraception, a rate such as Río de Janeiro and São Paolo, programs provided a model family
higher than that in the United States conveying the fertility reductions that for Brazilians to emulate—with small
or Canada. Universal access to family occur when people leave the farm for family sizes being a key characteristic.
planning has given women control over the city. In a 2012 paper in the American
their desired family size and has helped It turns out, however, that Brazil Economic Journal: Applied
reduce fertility across all economic had a rather unique influence affecting Economics, a team of research-
groups, from the very rich to the very its fertility rates over the past several ers from Bocconi University in Italy,
poor. decades—"soap operas.” Brazilian George Washington University, and
Brazil is largely Roman Catholic, soap operas, called telenovelas or the Inter-American Development Bank
and Roman Catholicism prohibits the novelas, are a cultural phenomenon (based in Washington, D.C.) analyzed
use of artificial methods of birth control, and are watched religiously by people various parameters to investigate
so the high rates of contraceptive use of all ages, races, and incomes. Each statistical relationships between tel-
in modern Brazil represent a significant novela follows the activities of several enovelas and fertility patterns in Brazil
shift from traditional values. Induced fictional families, and these TV shows from 1965 to 2000. Rede Globo, the
abortion is not utilized in Brazil as it is in are wildly popular because they have network that has a virtual monopoly
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