Beyond the Continuum: A Micro-Level Analysis of the Gender Equality-Fertility Nexus in Three Nordic Countries

Nicole Hiekel , Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research
Katia Begall, Radboud University Nijmegen

In low fertility contexts, gender equality is viewed as the fuel to work-family compatibility that may encourage women and men to have the children they want. The accelerating fertility decline in the most gender equal societies of the world puzzles family demographers. Our study addresses two micro-level explanations that argue how individuals’ fertility behavior responds to a changing context of gender equality. We ask “How are individual gender equality attitudes associated with intentions to have a child?” We use data from the recent data collection of the Generations and Gender Programme (GGP Round II) from Denmark, Finland and Norway on n=15,547 women and men. Using Latent Class Analysis, we identify three gender equality attitude profiles with one group characterized by ambivalent gender equality attitudes clearly being situated beyond the “non-egalitarian-egalitarian continuum” that most previous research relied on. The three profiles are clearly associated with fertility intentions for childless women and men, not for parents. Mediation analyses reveals that these profiles differ in their perceived opportunity structure on the one hand and preferences for parenthood on the other. Gender equal societies with a favorable opportunity structure for people to have the children they want, may still face challenges associated with low fertility: Fertility intentions are lowest among egalitarian individuals, i.e., the largest population in these countries, who consider parenthood least important, net of compositional differences.

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 Presented in Session 108. Fertility and Gender Equity