Women’s Education: Harbinger of Another Spring? Evidence from a Natural Experiment in Turkey

•Increase in proportion with 8years of schooling lowered number of pregnancies.•Education increased use of contraceptives and awareness of the ovulation cycle.•There is weak evidence that mothers schooling caused a decline in child mortality.•No evidence that women’s education changed attitudes toward gender inequality. We use Turkey’s 1997 Education Law that increased compulsory schooling from 5 to 8years to study the effect of education on women’s fertility and empowerment. Using an instrumental variables methodology, we find that a 10 percentage-point increase in the proportion of ever-married women with eight-years of schooling lowered pregnancies by 0.13 per woman; increased the proportion paying an antenatal-visit during the first trimester by 6 percentage points; using contraceptives by eight points and with knowledge of the ovulation cycle by five points. There is weak evidence that schooling decreased child mortality; no evidence that it changed attitudes toward gender inequality.