Yhu Kuni

Is Improving the Status of Women the Key to Restoring Fertility in the First World?

By Yhu Kuni

Around the turn of the 20th century, as women struggled for the right to vote and for other civil and economic rights, fertility rates remained high. Since then, there has been a substantial increase in the labor-force participation and fertility patterns have declined. This is what Kono refers to as the Second Demographic Transition where traditional utilities of children have declined and the cost of child-bearing and child-rearing have increased. Bernhardt suggests a relationship between gender and fertility where as women adopt certain aspects of ‘male behavior’ by participating in the work force, this is incompatible with child-raising and hence fertility would decrease. Both seem to suggest that inequality in prestige, inequality in power, and inequality in access to or control over resources may be keeping fertility below replacement levels. Hence, policies that push gender equality, increased female participation in the work-force, as well as increased wages, and better child-care support may be the answer to restoring fertility in the first world.

Reasons for the historical decline include a wide range of fairly obvious social and economic changes that have accompanied the transformation of a society from a rural and agricultural setting to an increasingly urban and metropolitan one with a highly industrialized and now increasingly service-oriented economy. The transformation encompasses decreasing infant mortality, universal education, decline of religious authority, decline of patriarchal family system, equality and emancipation of women and pervasive consumer-oriented culture. Such transformations have decreased both traditional utilities of children and increased the cost of bearing and rearing children.

This sweeping trend of second demographic transition is fairly well synchronized with the case of Japan where total fertility rate having been kept for nearly 30 years at the level of around 2 suddenly started declining in 1975. It was once thought that the drop was temporary due to the postponement of marriage, but since then the fertility rate has steadily been declining.

It has widely been accepted that women’s work and fertility rates are interdependent. Children absorb mother’s time, thus a mother’s participation in the work force represents both a constraint on their child-rearing and support role. Numerous studies have shown an inverse relationship between family size and the extent of female participation in economic activity, i.e., married women who earn substantial wages generally have fewer children than other married women. Furthermore, this relationship has been found to be more prevalent in the industrialized than in the non-industrialized countries.

However, inter-country analysis of the relationship between fertility and employment does not give support to this claim. Whether female employment affects fertility depends, among other things, on the kind of institutional and emotional supports provided for those combining employment and parenthood.

Looking at the case of Sweden, Swedish female labor force participation has been increasing, but fertility rates has also been steadily increasing since 1986. In 1990, it has gone up to 2.14, even slightly above the net replacement level. The newer cohort born in 1956 and afterwards shows a stronger propensity of having second and third births and it seems like this trend will continue.

This can in part be attributed to the low-key and largely indirect pronatalism of Swedish social policies. The Swedish government has been pushing to provide state-initiated system of child care which facilitates women’s entry into the labor market and continued attachment to child-bearing and child-rearing at minimal cost. Jan Hoem, hence, maintains that the record-high and continuously growing labor force participation of Swedish women, combined with comparatively high and increasing fertility, should be taken notice of. Determined public daycare, child benefits, parental leave provisions, parents’ rights to part-time work, and similar measures show that women in Sweden enjoy the highest status of women.

Southern Europe has the lowest fertility rates among the developed countries, but it also lags behind in socio-economic development. Rossella Palomba, using a national sample survey conducted by the Population Research Institute on the opinions and behavior of Italians, has shown that social norms do not reflect the current economic situation and this has created an incompatibility between women’s work and family building. Reasons why couples do not want another child is because of the "high cost of raising children," "uncertain future for child," "mother’s work," and "economic and unemployment crisis." "Lack of social services" is also cited with a relatively high score. This seems to suggest that not only may women’s participation may be decreasing fertility rates, but also gender inequality in wages, combined with the lack of social services of child care may be creating an increasing burden for women.

Furthermore, the status of women within the domestic household may be influencing fertility patterns. Six countries were surveyed by Japan’s Internal Office Bureau regarding how women fare in their daily life and how they feel they are treated within the family. Results indicate that when women feel relatively ill-treated, they also felt that the locus of final decision on familial affairs is placed on the husband. The results also provides further support for gender equality and high status of women in Sweden. These results seem to suggest that in most countries with a low fertility rate, there remain strong cultural norms for male chauvinism and gender specified roles.

An interesting work by Otani shows that increasing the status of women in the labor force may actually lead to a higher fertility rate. Using the 1987 National Fertility Survey of Japan, gainful work for women outside the home exerts substantial influences on the probabilities of conceiving first, second and third conceptions of women. Results indicate that employment status is found to be among the most important factors affecting pregnancies. Part-time workers tend to have a lesser probability of conceiving than full-time workers. This may be due to the fact that part-time workers do not enjoy as much employment benefits of full-time workers. Their inferior working conditions may be much less compatible with child-bearing and child-rearing.

Also, according to a study conducted by Eiko Nakano, it shows that women’s work status is radically different from men’s. A field survey conducted in Fujisawa City, a middle-sized suburban city located near Tokyo, show that women do not or cannot continue their permanent employment after marriage. After completing their child-bearing process, it is difficult for women to return to a regular or full-time position, hence deprived of their full privileges, seniority and fringe benefits. Before marriage, nearly 80 percent of the women were engaged in the labor force and nearly 90 percent of the employed were in full-time jobs. However, almost a half quit their job when they marry. In one or two years after marriage, only about 30 percent returned to full-time jobs. The lack of cheap and sophisticated child care system also defers them to return. Hence, there is an anticipation and deep-rooted emotion among the newly weds and those getting married soon realize that marriage negates their work experience and some may choose to defer, thus increasing the average age of marriage.

Thus, in order to restore fertility after the second demographic transition, it is important to improve the status of women in the First World. As seen in Sweden, when women receive privileges and benefits on completely equal terms with men in all spheres of life, namely in the family, in husband-wife relations, in offices and other working places, women acquire an assurance of their well-being by securing the compatibility between their work and reproductive activities. Then fertility starts increasing again to the replacement level. Although, gender discriminatory practices are prohibited, the situation in Japan show traditional norms favoring male machismo, both in the public and private arena are difficult to relinquish overnight. however this may be the only solution to sustainable growth.

References:

Eva M. Bernhardt, "Changing Family Ties, Women's Position and Low Fertility", in Women's Position and Demographic Change, edited by Nora Federeici, Karen Mason and S. Sogner, Clarendon Press, Oxford England 1993, pp. 80-103.

Shigemi Kono, "Relationship Between Women's Economic Activity and Fertility and Child Care in Low-Fertility Countries", paper presented at the Expert Group Meeting on Population and Women, Gabarone, 22-26 June 1992, United Nations, New York 1992.