Domestic labour and the "fertility gap"

Alyce Raybould

an obstacle to childbearing or measurement fallacy?

In almost all high-income settings, the existence of a “fertility gap” between stated ideal and actual family size suggests there are impediments to women achieving their childbearing goals. Previous studies have suggested that female domestic burden could be a potential impediment to childbearing: when women are expected to perform both paid and unpaid labour responsibilities without additional support, continued childbearing is made untenable. This presentation explores whether division of domestic labour could help explain the fertility gap, or whether the gap is instead driven by issues of measurement.

I first explore whether domestic division of labour influences childbearing intentions and behaviour through a systematic review of 95 analyses. Despite some variation in findings, I find evidence supporting this theory. However, the review also highlights that studies focusing on the fertility gap at the individual level (typically exploring whether an intention or an ideal for children is realised) have been methodologically weak, confusing different psychological concepts and ignoring that fertility intentions can change over time. To address these shortcomings, I use data from the USA to explore whether women with less domestic burden are more likely to realise an intention for a second child. I then examine whether intentions for a second child become sacrificed after first birth, a time when domestic labour increases and becomes more gendered, using longitudinal data from the UK and USA. I find a steep drop in expected family size among one child individuals after first birth. My future work aims to further disentangle the apparent fertility gap by exploring the correspondence between intentions for a child prior to birth, contraceptive behaviour and wantedness of a child in the USA. In doing so, I hope to tease apart whether the fertility gap is truly the result of impediments to childbearing, or is driven by a lack of coherency between stated intentions to act and subsequent behaviour.

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