Education and Childlessness: The Influence of Educational Field and Educational Level on Childlessness among Swedish and Austrian Women

Neyer, Gerda; Hoem, Jan M.; Andersson, Gunnar

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-44667-7_9

Cited by 22 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 45 publications

(34 reference statements)

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“…While this is to some extent expected in Belgium, given its family-friendly policies (Wood, Neels, and Kil 2014), the finding for Austria is more puzzling. After further inspection we found that this is driven by women who graduated in Health and Welfare, a female-dominated field that leads to family-friendly occupations, mostly in the public sector (Neyer, Hoem, and Andersson 2017). We did not find support for our second hypothesis, according to which study disciplines with a higher share of one's own sex enhance fertility.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 58%

Gender differences and similarities in the educational gradient in fertility: The role of earnings potential and gender composition in study disciplines

Trimarchi¹,

Bavel²

2018

DemRes

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BACKGROUND While women's participation in higher education has caught up with and surpassed that of men, large gender differences persist in the choice of field of study. To date, we know little about the mechanisms that explain the link between fertility and study disciplines for both men and women. OBJECTIVE To study gender differences in the effect on fertility of earnings potential and gender composition in study disciplines. METHODS We used European Labor Force Survey (EU-LFS) data and OLS models to estimate earnings potential. Next, we linked these estimates to the Generations and Gender Surveys (GGS) of six countries and applied piecewise linear hazard models to analyze the transition to first and second births jointly. RESULTS We found heterogeneity across countries, but within countries the mechanisms tend to be similar for both men and women. CONCLUSIONS This study suggests that the drivers of men's and women's family behavior may be more similar than is often expected. Societal changes that have occurred in the last three decades may lead to a stronger role for men in fertility decision-making, which may remain unnoticed if we continue to focus only on women. Trimarchi & Van Bavel: Gender differences and similarities in the educational gradient in fertility 382 http://www.demographic-research.org CONTRIBUTION This study expands our knowledge of the relationship between men's education and fertility. It also broadens our understanding of the effect of the field of study on the fertility of both men and women by considering two characteristics of the study discipline: earnings potential and gender composition. http://www.demographic-research.org 2.1 Level of education Microeconomic theories predict that education and fertility have opposite associations for men and women (Cigno and Ermisch 1989; Becker 1991; Gustafsson 2001). Following the male-breadwinner model, the price effect is more characteristic of the relationship between education and fertility among women, since childbearing leads to a reduction of time spent in the paid labor market. The income effect-i.e., higher i n c o m e m a k i n g i t p o s s i b l e t o a f f o r d t h e m o n e t a r y c o s t s o f h a v i n g c h i l d r e npredominates among men, since they are supposed to be the main breadwinners. A family model that is built on the specialization and gender division of labor presupposes compensatory roles for housework and paid work between partners, which is why opposite effects of education on fertility are expected for men and women. Scholars have also highlighted mechanisms that are not necessarily specific to men or women. The income effect, usually considered positive, may turn null or even negative. This is because highly educated parents may want to invest more in their children and thus perceive raising an additional child as too expensive. However, highly educated people tend to have more resources (e.g., bigger social networks, financial means to outsource childcare and housework) and skills that can lower the opportun...

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 58%

Gender differences and similarities in the educational gradient in fertility: The role of earnings potential and gender composition in study disciplines

Trimarchi¹,

Bavel²

2018

DemRes

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“…Institutional approaches to fertility focus on the role that institutions and welfare states play in retaining or modifying gender, social, or economic relationships in society and in the family (Neyer 2003). These approaches assume that the institutional context shapes the links between gender, education and fertility (Neyer and Andersson 2008; Kravdal and Rindfuss 2008; Neyer et al 2017). Social policies in the Nordic countries have often focused on supporting social and gender equality in areas relevant for family life.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Education, Gender, and Cohort Fertility in the Nordic Countries

et al. 2018

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Systematic comparisons of fertility developments based on education, gender and country context are rare. Using harmonized register data, we compare cohort total fertility and ultimate childlessness by gender and educational attainment for cohorts born beginning in 1940 in four Nordic countries. Cohort fertility (CTF) initially declined in all four countries, although for cohorts born in the 1950s and later, the CTF remained stable or declined only modestly. Childlessness, which had been increasing, has plateaued in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Women’s negative educational gradient in relation to total fertility has vanished, except in Finland, while men’s positive gradient has persisted. The highest level of men’s childlessness appears among the least educated. In the oldest female cohorts, childlessness was highest among the highly educated, but these patterns have changed over the cohorts as childlessness has increased among the low educated and remained relatively stable among higher educated women. In Denmark, Norway and Sweden, childlessness is now highest among the least educated women. We witness both a new gender similarity and persistent (among men) and new (among women) educational disparities in childbearing outcomes in the Nordic region. Overall, the number of low educated has decreased remarkably over time. These population segments face increasing social and economic disadvantages that are reflected as well in their patterns of family formation. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1007/s10680-018-9492-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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“…6 Természetesen tudatában vagyunk annak, hogy a végleges gyermektelenség "elérésében" a női életpálya számtalan tényezőjének egymásra hatása áll: iskolai, foglalkoztatási és párkapcsolati életpályák eredményeként jön létre (Spéder, 2014;Hoem et al, 2006;Neyer et al, 2017;Tanturri and Mencarini, 2008). Tudjuk, hogy ha valaki nem szül vér szerinti gyermeket, attól még lehet szülő és nevelhet gyermeket.…”

Section: Család-és Szociálpolitikaunclassified

Gyermektelenség és iskolai végzettség összefüggései Magyarországon

Szabó¹

2020

Dem

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* De nem feltétlenül, hiszen vannak az ún. polarizált országok, mint amilyen az Egyesült Királyság vagy Finnország, ahol magas mind a gyermektelenek, mind a négynél több gyermeket nevelők aránya; és vannak olyan közép-kelet-vagy délkelet-európai országok, mint Spanyolország vagy akár Magyarország is, ahol alacsony a termékenység és alacsony a gyermektelenség aránya is (Tanturri et al., 2015). * Az 1975-ös és ezt követő születési kohorszok körében.

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Education and Childlessness: The Influence of Educational Field and Educational Level on Childlessness among Swedish and Austrian Women

Cited by 22 publications

References 45 publications

Gender differences and similarities in the educational gradient in fertility: The role of earnings potential and gender composition in study disciplines

Gender differences and similarities in the educational gradient in fertility: The role of earnings potential and gender composition in study disciplines

Education, Gender, and Cohort Fertility in the Nordic Countries

Gyermektelenség és iskolai végzettség összefüggései Magyarországon

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