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Changing Gender Roles and Changes in Family Formation
Changing Gender Roles and Changes in Family Formation
Role in household
decision making
Female empowerment
Education
Access to extrahousehold economic
opportunities
Opportunity cost of
children
Desired number of
children
Knowledge of
contraception
Likelihood of
contracepting
Fertility rates
Negative relationships
Education and
fertility
Income and
fertility
HDI and fertility
Consequences
High fertility and stalled
fertility decline in many
settings
Incursions of womens
(reproductive) rights and
opportunities
Violence against women
Sex selection bias
Abortions, infanticide
Squeeze on marriage
India
Source: Baochang Gu & Yong Cai. (2011). Fertility prospects in China. Expert Paper. No. 2011/14. Department of
Economic and Social Affairs. Population Division. United Nations.
Education revolution
Korea: female tertiary enrolment rose from
20% in 1975 to 81% in 2005 (Tsuya et al.
2009)
70
Taiwan, 2009
60
50
40
% achieved tertiary education (2009)
30
Male
Female
20
10
Age group
Reflected in trends
8.0
7.0
6.0
5.0
4.0
TFR
3.0
2.0
1.0
0.0
Taiwan
China
China, Hong Kong SAR
Japan
Republic of Korea
India
Singapore
Thailand
Japan - context
A perfect storm?
Patriarchal, patrilineal tradition
Women expected to have very different
gendered roles in public and in private
History of age gap between husband and wife
Highly educated women: opportunity costs
at breaking point
Context for cross-border marriages?
MEN want to get married but just not to
Taiwanese women (and vice versa)
France
NW Europe
Scandinavia
CEE
(Latvia)
(Germany)
3
2
1
0
Traditional
Egalitarian
Gender equity index
Source: (Rotkirch, Basten and Mietinnen 2010)
Househusban
d model
Equal sharing
model
Half-and-half
model
Male
breadwinner
model
Traditional
Egalitarian
Gender equity index
Source: (Rotkirch, Basten and Mietinnen 2010)
Yemen,
Niger,
Afghanistan
Scandinavia
East Asia, S
and E Europe
GENDER
EQUITY
MISMATCH
Traditional
Egalitarian
Gender equity index
NW Europe
So what to do?
Clearly womens work should be made
more compatible with childbearing
Return to subsidy vs. reform
Broader social change required
Try to usher in more equal responsibilities
between women and men with respect to
childcare and housework