"This study attempts to investigate the nature of the relationships governing child-bearing models and family formation by measuring the status and role of women in society....[The author] proposes that inductive analysis should be adopted using the difference in life-expectancy among males and females at birth as a measurement of women's status to define the distinction between the roles of the two sexes.  This is carried out by analysing the interrelationships between the variables of development, religion, area, fertility and women's relative status in a group of 120 countries.  The study concludes that the analysis of the downward slope at the international level may explain the effect of the roles of the two sexes and women's status on demographic change on the one hand, and the effect of cultural factors such as region and religion on women's role and status on the other."