The link between women's education and fertility traces the pattern of modernization and demographic transition of a rural setting in the Indian state of Maharashtra. The study presents the conceptual framework underlying the analysis, background information on female status and on the demographic situation, and an outline of conditions existing at the study site. The analysis of rural Maharashtrian women showed the expected inverse relationship between women's education and fertility, but the relationship was not as strong as often implied. Four main conclusions emerged from the study: (1) evidence suggested that education does exert an independent effect on fertility and the variables that intervened between education and fertility; (2) results indicated that the effect of education was not uniform; (3) evidence showed that the inverse effect of education on fertility was largely the result of inadvertent factors rather than volition changes; and (4) a relationship showed that contraception was important when it came to the role of education in containing unwanted fertility. (CK)