From my de facto Bible, Nick Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn’s Half the Sky:
“[A study] focused on television’s impact on rural India. Robert Jensen of Brown University and Emily Oster of the University of Chicago found that after cable television arrived in a village, women gained more autonomy—such as the ability to leave the house without permission and the right to participate in household decisions. There was a drop in the number of births … wife-beating became less acceptable, and families were more likely to send daughters to school.” (A similar study in Brazil produced similar results. A new TV network featured soap operas, which became wildly popular, starring empowered women with few children. Again, birth rates sagged, especially among women “of lower socioeconomic status.”)
Interesting, eh?