Women, labour and fertility: population growth in nineteenth century Java

The sharp increase in Java's population after 1830 is usually explained in terms of higher living standards and consequent lower mortality resulting from Dutch colonization, but there is little historical evidence supporting such an interpretation and much to refute it. An alternative view is that Java's population growth after 1830 was due to increasing fertility. The major constraint to Javanese fertility prior to this period has been extended periods of postpartum abstinence, the length of which was determined by the duration of breastfeeding, because people believed semen had deleterious effects on breast milk. In 1830 a system of forced cultivation of export crops was imposed by the Dutch rulers and greatly increased the amount of labor which Javanese households required to reproduce themselves. The arduous work women began to undertake made it increasingly difficult to breastfeed their children. As the average period of breastfeeding fell, the average period of postpartum abstinence declined and fertility increased.