The paper argues that women's status in Haiti is a factor favorable to the spread of modern contraception and a potential rapid demographic transition from high to low fertility. After briefly reviewing recent theories on the determining of fertility declines, the paper considers women's status in Haiti. It discusses family patterns, conjugal unions, and economic activities. Finally, it reviews current patterns of contraceptive use and considers how these are related to various aspects of woman's status.

The paper discusses the current patterns of sexual unions in rural Haiti. After reviewing the historical and contemporary factors influencing the relatively low proportions of rural women legally married, an approach to categorizing Haitian unions using culturally meaningful categories is presented. Drawing on data from the 1977 Haitian Fertility Survey Pretest, collected on 747 rural women, the paper analyzes current union status and age at first union, and associated socioeconomic background factors.