Religiosity and Fertility Intentions: Can the Gender Regime Explain Cross-Country Differences?

Abstract

Research on the relationship between religiosity and fertility intentions revealed substantial cross-national differences. In some countries, a strong and positive effect of religiosity on fertility intentions was found, while in others, the effect was weaker or not significant, and the reasons underlying these cross-national differences are still unclear. The aim of this article is to explain these macro-level differences from the perspective of the prevailing gender regime. We argue that in countries with more traditional regimes, a stronger effect of religiosity on fertility intentions could be expected than in countries with a more egalitarian view. We make use of the first wave of the Generations and Gender Survey and incorporate data from a total of 12 European countries in our analysis. We examine the influence of gender regime according to various macro-level indicators on gender attitudes and gender equality using meta-regression analyses. We also conduct robustness checks using other indicators such as the Gender Development Index. Our results reveal that the gender regime is only able to explain these differences in certain situations, specifically those relating to the long-term fertility intentions of men.

Policy and Fertility, a Case Study of the Quebec Parental Insurance Plan

“…It is generally accepted among scholars that the difference in fertility between developed countries that support working mothers, promote gender equality, and facilitate reconciliation between family and work, and those that don't do it is explained by the existence and effectiveness of these measures taken as a whole. Research supporting this interpretation is based on comparisons between countries (Harknett et al, 2014 ; Fernández Soto et al, 2020 ; Wesolowski, 2020 ; B ein et al, 2021 ) or between jurisdictions within a country (Hook & Paek, 2021 ).…”

Climate change worries and fertility intentions. Insights from three EU countries.

“…education, distinguishing whether the respond has completed tertiary education or not; occupation, coded as employed, unemployed, inactive, or in education, and parents' education (tertiary or not); and health conditions (good, fair, bad) (Fahlén & Oláh, 2018;Gatta et al, 2022). Furthermore, the models account for other values and personal traits that may simultaneity affect climate concern and fertility intentions, namely, religiosity (self-reported 0 to 10) and risk aversion (0-5 scale) (Bein et al, 2021;Bellani & Arpino, 2022). Descriptive statistics for all variables can be found in Table 1.…”

Religion, Ideology and Fertility

“…This suggests that country-level cultural or institutional factors may moderate the relationship. Our research contributes to the stream of literature that emphasises how gender regimes shape the existence and magnitude of the individual-level linkage between religion and fertility (Bein et al, 2021a;Goldscheider, 2006). One underlying assumption in this literature, not always considered and/or modelled explicitly in existing empirical studies, is that one important channel through which religion affects fertility is related to the way religion shapes individual beliefs about gender roles, childbearing, and family values related to parenthood.…”