www.theinternationaljournal.org > RJSSM: Volume: 05, Number: 1, May 2015 Page 212 Labor Force Participation and Fertility Behavior: Gender Focused Study of South Asian Countries Umar Rafique Associate Lecturer Department of Sociology University of Gujrat, Pakistan. Muhammad Shoaib Lecturer Department of Sociology University of Gujrat, Pakistan. Abstract: The present study aims to analyze the impact of male and female labor force participation and resultant impact on fertility rate. Three South Asian countries including Pakistan, India and Bangladesh have been selected for conducting the present study focused on year 1984 to 2013. Secondary data analysis was done and regression analysis was run for estimation of the impact of variables on fertility rate. Fixed Effect Model was also applied to draw results. The major finding of the study shows that female labor force participation has negative impact on fertility rate as compared to Male Labor Force Participation. It is suggested that female labor force participation should be encouraged in order to control fertility rate which ultimately decreases population growth in result. Keywords: Labor Force, Participation, Fertility, Behavior, Gender, South Asia, Pakistan INTRODUCTION United Nations (UN) observed 11 July as World Population Day for emphasizing on the danger of rapid population growth which have negative impact on the growth and development of the countries. It is also producing negative consequences of early child marriages in third world countries, high risks of HIV propagation, poor socioeconomic conditions, and ultimately less likely to have congruence between population and countries’ resources and impeding the socioeconomic development of the countries (UN, 2010). Rapid population growth is causing divergent problems to countries specific includes; disaster effects on environment, GDP, GNP, per capita income, inflation, unemployment as well as multiple social problems (Eswaran, 2004). While controlled population growth in developed counties have less these problems as compared to developing countries of the world. It is linked with fertility rate towards high population growth (Jacobsen, 1996). Female labor force participation in labor market is the control variable among different variables and strategies to control fertility rate which is considered to have less chances of kids and the mechanism to control population growth. It also has positive significant effects on economic growth, development and socio-economic conditions of households (Woytek et al., 2013). A negative relationship between female labor force participation and fertility behavior (Lehrer and Nerlove, 1986) has also been observed (Lovin and Tickamyer, 1978) and the same situation is in USSR (Berliner, 1983) Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh are those South Asian countries which are in the second phase of development; it marks with still high birth rate, decreasing death rates, because of improvement in health conditions ultimately ending in the net increase of population (The Threat of Population Growth, pg. 58). This second phase of development is named as Demographic Transition by Thompson (1929) and Notestein (1945). (Younger, 2006) OBJECTIVES • To analyze the impact of female labor force participation (LFPF) on fertility rate (FR) of women.