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Second Births and the Second Shift: A Research Note on Gender Equity and Fertility

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  • Berna Miller Torr
  • Susan E. Short

Abstract

In a set of propositions on fertility transition, Peter McDonald recently proposed that the decline from replacement‐level fertility to low fertility is associated with a combination of high levels of gender equity in individual‐oriented institutions, such as education and market employment, and low levels of gender equity in the family and family‐oriented institutions. Similarly, the “second shift,” or the share of domestic work performed by formally employed women, forms a critical piece of current cross‐national explanations for low fertility. Building on this scholarship, the authors explore whether there is empirical evidence at the individual level for a relationship between gender equity at home, as indicated by the division of housework among working couples with one child, and the transition to a second birth. Results, based on a sample of US couples, indicate a U‐shaped relationship between gender equity and fertility. Both the most modern and the most traditional housework arrangements are positively associated with fertility. This empirical test elaborates the family‐fertility relationship and underscores the need to incorporate family context, including gender equity, into explanations for fertility change.

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  • Berna Miller Torr & Susan E. Short, 2004. "Second Births and the Second Shift: A Research Note on Gender Equity and Fertility," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 30(1), pages 109-130, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:popdev:v:30:y:2004:i:1:p:109-130
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1728-4457.2004.00005.x
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    1. COOKE Lynn Prince, 2003. "The South revisited: The division of labor and family outcomes in Italy and Spain," IRISS Working Paper Series 2003-12, IRISS at CEPS/INSTEAD.
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