FERTILITY SOC 468- Demography and Population Studies Fertility vs. Fecundity Fertility: number of children born to a woman Fecundity: physical ability of women to give birth Total fertility rate (TFR): average number of children that would be born to a woman over her lifetime if she were to: Experience the exact current age-specific fertility rates through her lifetime, and Survive from birth through the end of her reproductive cycle Turkey: 2.03 Germany: 1.45 Pakistan: 2.68 Sweden: 1.68 Mexico: 2.25 India: 2.50 1
Natural fertility: level of reproduction in absence of any birth control E.g:15-49 years (~35 years) Why do people do not reach this rate? Why/not control fertility? What are the means to limit fertility? Why would anybody use any of these methods? Social variables (social influence) Intervening variables (other means of birth control (technology, knowledge)) Intervening variables to limit fertility Intercourse variables Average age in which one engages in intercourse Voluntary/involuntary abstinence Unions/divorces Conception variables Birth control (during/after intercourse) Natural conception prevention (exclusive breastfeeding) Gestational variables Abortions Explanations for High Fertility Need to replenish society Security or labor Desire for sons Ambivalence of women in the society Political instability 2
1. Norms and Expectations of Society Social encouragement to have kids/social responsibility During socialization, we internalize these norms Value placed on reproductivity 2. Old Age Security and Labor 3 rd world countries; underdeveloped welfare systems Children as a safety net; to provide income and care (as insurance) Labor; higher economic value on children; seen as more income 3. Women s prestige and status Can only be achieved by birth/survival of a son/ sons (in most 3 rd world countries) Hindu religion where parents are to be buried by the son World Fertility Survey; where women were asked whether they wanted any more kids Negative correlation between number of sons and the desire for any more kids 3
4. Women not part of the work force/social security system Reproductive ability could be the only means to have a social standing/prestige and power On the other hand, if you have too many kids, you don t have much power because you are confined to the boundaries of your house/disables you to participate in the social/economic domain Family Planning Programs in India- failure. Women s social standing depends on the number of children. 5.Political Instability TFR Rwanda: 4.62 (2012) Democratic Republic of Congo: 6.04 (2012) Political chaos and violence Why? Arab-Israeli War Fertility rates increased. Why? Explanations for Low Fertility Wealth, social class, education, income Inversely correlated with fertility Though not very straightforward relationships Relative income is more important. Top of each class has higher fertility rates. Why? Social mobility (you have already achieved it- children not an economic burden) Reference group is people in your class Fertility and education: inversely correlated Fertility and wealth: usually inversely correlated 4
Economic Reasons for Wealth- Fertility Relationship Gary Becker- A Treatise on the Family Family as an economic unit Children as consumer goods (commodity) that require money and time Two assumptions: People have perfect economic rationality People have perfect information on birth control (capable of controlling their fertility) Becker Trade-offs in resource allocation Two trade-offs in fertility decisions Resources invested on either children (reproductive investment) or own consumption (somatic investment) Quantity vs. Quality Expectation and investment Wage rate of women As women s wage increase, fertility rate declines Daycare, babysitter vs. quitting job) Again, a trade-off Men s wage/women s wage~fertility Value of women s time allocated for childcare declines Problem? Assumes burden of children are on women Career and income may not be positively correlated 5
Fertility as a Social Institution What is an institution? Clusters of behavioral rules governing action in repeated situations Patterns for social organization Constantly being made and remade May be inherited or may be consciously designed Sexual division of labor as an institution Reproductive behavior as a social behavior Institutions affecting fertility? Technology Birth control and infertility technology Production Technology (capital vs. labor intensive) Agricultural technology and women s work Industrialization and unemployment Exclusion of women from the labor force Household technology 6
Legal System Legal marriage age: 18 without consent; 17 with consent from parent or legal guardian Why is this important? Psychological Education Physiological Compulsory Education Development of secular ideas Opportunities to find jobs Access to information Economic System Low income and education: not working as prestige Prestige: social security for old age, health facilities Unemployment Economic production Family Gender roles Status of women Old age security Family size Status of elderly people Extended family and fertility rates? 7
Community Kinship as extended family and fertility? Caste system Class Media Diffusion of information Through images Representation of modernity How you are supposed to love Medicine Medicalization of birth control Power relations in the medical sector (pharmaceutical companies and the government) Assisted Reproductive Technology 8
Education Empowerment of women Access to information Secularization of ideas/autonomy~marriage age Whose education are we talking about? Religion Catholic Church-no abortion/contraception Pope Francis: avoiding pregnancy is not an absolute evil. ( ) Women s confinement to the house and fertility Secularization of ideas Varieties of Fertility Transition Traditional Capitalist (Latin America) Similar pattern to Europe (but slower) Mortality decline, then fertility decline Agrarian institutional structure Consolidation of land into large holdings People become wage earners (proletarianization) Fertility rates decline (also) migration to urban areas due to consolidation of land 9
Soft State (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh) Caste system, Limited education for women, Extended family structure Decentralized countries- difficult to penetrate into the local level Radical Devolution (China) 1960s: fertility rate 6 1970s: fertility rate 2.5 One-child policy- social institutions went through radical transformation (communism) Agrarian reform: destroyed the landlord system, restraints on migration, powerful family planning program Growth with equity (Taiwan, South Korea) 1950s: fertility started to decline Radical land reform People given small scale land and supported by government No urban/rural wage differentiation Very smooth transition: agrarian production was kept steady. Family planning programs like social services, not direct government programs 10
Lineage Dominance (Subsaharan Africa) Limited education opportunities for women Political and legal instability Lack of health care system 11