Peer-reviewed article
How Many Children in a Family? Fertility Ideals and Gender Equality Norms in 26 Societies.
Edlund J, Öun I ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examines how gender equality norms relate to fertility ideals across 26 societies using data from the 2012 ISSP module. The research distinguishes between two aspects of gender equality: women's participation in work (first half) and men's participation in care and household work (second half). The findings show that stronger gender equality norms are associated with higher fertility ideals, particularly among women, highly educated people, and younger generations.
Key points
- Gender equality norms are positively related to fertility ideals across societies
- In societies with strong gender equality norms, women and highly educated people report higher fertility ideals
- In societies with weak gender equality norms, these patterns reverse
- Norms about men's participation in care work show slightly stronger associations with fertility ideals than norms about women's employment
Limitations
The study focuses on stated fertility ideals rather than actual fertility outcomes or child well-being, and uses cross-sectional data which cannot establish causation. The document does not measure impacts on child welfare, health, education, or development.
Abstract
We examine the relationship between gender equality and fertility ideals, focusing on the role of societal norms about men's participation in care and household work, known as the second half of the gender revolution. We set out to capture how the prevalence of this revolution translates into fertility ideals on the societal level and among different social groups. Data come from the ISSP module 2012, covering 26 societies. The first objective is to examine the relationship between gender equality norms and fertility ideals across national contexts. The second objective is to compare how measures of gender equality focusing on the first half of the gender revolution, and the second half, respectively, are associated with fertility ideals. As previous research focusing on the first half of the gender revolution noted and/or predicted that actual or intended fertility tends to be comparatively lower among women, the highly educated, younger generations, and the non-religious, our third objective is to analyse the extent to which norms embracing the second half have the capacity to modify these relationships. The results show that norms about gender equality are positively related to fertility ideals and seem to influence patterns of fertility ideals among social groups. In societies with strong gender equality norms, women, the highly educated, and the young display comparatively higher fertility ideals. In societies with weak gender equality norms, these patterns are reversed. Differences depending on gender equality norm measures were small but systematically in favour of those capturing the second half of the gender revolution.