Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
acceptedVersion
Publication Date
4-2024
Abstract
Post-industrial countries with high rates of female labour force participation have generally had low fertility rates, but recent studies demonstrate that this is no longer the case. This has generated increased attention to how greater gender equality in the private sphere of the household may contribute to a positive relationship between women’s employment rates and fertility. Building on recent scholarship demonstrating the multidimensionality of gender-role attitudes, we argue that conversely, the prevalence of a gender-role ideology that supports women’s employment but places greater priority on their role as caregivers may depress the higher-order fertility intentions of working mothers. Using data from 25 European countries, we find that this type of gender-role ideology (egalitarian familism) moderates the relationship between mothers’ full-time employment and their intention to have a second child. This holds even after accounting for key features of the policy environment that are likely to mitigate work-family conflict. The analysis suggests that conflicting normative expectations for women’s work and family roles tend to dampen working mothers’ second-order fertility intentions, independent of work-family reconciliation policies.
Discipline
Family, Life Course, and Society | Gender and Sexuality
Research Areas
Sociology
Publication
European Sociological Review
Volume
40
Issue
2
First Page
309
Last Page
325
ISSN
0266-7215
Identifier
10.1093/esr/jcad036
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Citation
HAN, Sinn Won, GOWEN, Ohjae, & BRINTON, Mary C..(2024). When mothers do it all: Gender-role norms and women’s fertility intentions in post-industrial societies. European Sociological Review, 40(2), 309-325.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/4101
Copyright Owner and License
Authors
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1093/esr/jcad036