Job Quality, Gender Roles, and Fertility Intentions in a Stable Low Fertility Context

• In Event: 038 - Section on Sociology of Population Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 02. Predictors of Fertility in Low Fertility Contexts

Abstract

BACKGROUND

Where changes in fertility timing and sequencing do not suffice in explaining low fertility, scholars typically think of socioeconomic conditions in terms of income, employment status or work hours as determinants for the formation of fertility intentions. Yet, few studies have focused on the importance of perceived job quality and gender role attitude.

OBJECTIVE

We examine in what way perceived job quality is associated with the intention to have a child for men and women in the stable low fertility context Switzerland, whether job quality matters equally for first and subsequent child intentions, and whether a gender-unequal attitude changes the effects of job quality on the childbearing intentions of men and women.


METHODS

Using data from the Swiss Household Panel (2002-2011) the authors estimate separate logit models of the fertility intentions of men and women without children and those with at least one child.


RESULTS

We find that the intention of having a first child for women is negatively related to perceived job instability. Our analysis suggests that the link between occupational prestige and fertility intentions is more complex and depends on people’s gender attitude, which we argue renders job quality differentially salient for men and women.


CONCLUSIONS

Our findings provide empirical support for economic and cultural factors behind recent stable low fertility as found in some European countries and highlight the need for future research on these intervening mechanisms between the formation and realization of these fertility intentions.

Authors

• Laura Bernardi, University of Lausanne, Institute of Social Sciences

• Doris Hanappi, University of California-Berkeley

• Valérie-Anne Ryser, University of Lausanne