Societal foundations for explaining fertility: Gender equity

BACKGROUND Gender equity theory in relation to fertility argues that very low fertility is the result of incoherence in the levels of gender equity in individually-oriented social institutions and family-oriented social institutions. The salience of gender to the fertility transition is strong in th...

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Main Author: Peter McDonald
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research 2013-05-01
Series:Demographic Research
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol28/34/
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spelling doaj-60a371f4cfc34908a276e8e073a1cca82020-11-24T23:13:01ZengMax Planck Institute for Demographic ResearchDemographic Research1435-98712013-05-012834Societal foundations for explaining fertility: Gender equityPeter McDonaldBACKGROUND Gender equity theory in relation to fertility argues that very low fertility is the result of incoherence in the levels of gender equity in individually-oriented social institutions and family-oriented social institutions. The salience of gender to the fertility transition is strong in theory but not as strong in specification of testable hypotheses as has been pointed out in the literature. OBJECTIVE The paper aims to clarify the specification of gender equity theory through a discussion of the difference between equity and equality and to suggest methods that might be applied to test the theory. METHODS The theory is restated and further developed using literature from different disciplines. The method is described using a decomposition of fertility for women by human capital levels. RESULTS The clarification of the theory includes a reminder that the theory relates to differences in fertility between countries and not to differences in fertility between women in the same country. In comparisons between countries, higher gender equity leads to higher fertility. In comparisons of fertility across women in the same country, higher gender equity does not necessarily imply higher fertility. In relation to measurement, a specification is suggested that effectively compares women across countries controlling for their level of human capital. Simple graphics are used to indicate ways in which fertility between countries may vary. CONCLUSIONS The paper concludes that it is likely the gender equity theory can be tested more readily by examining the behaviour across countries of women with higher levels of human capital. http://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol28/34/complementarianismfertilitygender equityparity of participation
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Peter McDonald
spellingShingle Peter McDonald
Societal foundations for explaining fertility: Gender equity
Demographic Research
complementarianism
fertility
gender equity
parity of participation
author_facet Peter McDonald
author_sort Peter McDonald
title Societal foundations for explaining fertility: Gender equity
title_short Societal foundations for explaining fertility: Gender equity
title_full Societal foundations for explaining fertility: Gender equity
title_fullStr Societal foundations for explaining fertility: Gender equity
title_full_unstemmed Societal foundations for explaining fertility: Gender equity
title_sort societal foundations for explaining fertility: gender equity
publisher Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research
series Demographic Research
issn 1435-9871
publishDate 2013-05-01
description BACKGROUND Gender equity theory in relation to fertility argues that very low fertility is the result of incoherence in the levels of gender equity in individually-oriented social institutions and family-oriented social institutions. The salience of gender to the fertility transition is strong in theory but not as strong in specification of testable hypotheses as has been pointed out in the literature. OBJECTIVE The paper aims to clarify the specification of gender equity theory through a discussion of the difference between equity and equality and to suggest methods that might be applied to test the theory. METHODS The theory is restated and further developed using literature from different disciplines. The method is described using a decomposition of fertility for women by human capital levels. RESULTS The clarification of the theory includes a reminder that the theory relates to differences in fertility between countries and not to differences in fertility between women in the same country. In comparisons between countries, higher gender equity leads to higher fertility. In comparisons of fertility across women in the same country, higher gender equity does not necessarily imply higher fertility. In relation to measurement, a specification is suggested that effectively compares women across countries controlling for their level of human capital. Simple graphics are used to indicate ways in which fertility between countries may vary. CONCLUSIONS The paper concludes that it is likely the gender equity theory can be tested more readily by examining the behaviour across countries of women with higher levels of human capital.
topic complementarianism
fertility
gender equity
parity of participation
url http://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol28/34/
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