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The Changing Institutional Context of Low Fertility

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Abstract

Using data for 1960–97 for 22 low fertility countries, we document a dramatic change in the association of fertility levels to women's levels of labor force participation. Until the 1980s, this association had been strongly negative. However, during the 1980s itbecame positive, and since 1990 strongly positive. We also document an emerging positive association of the country-level total fertility ratio (TFR) and nonmarital ratio (e.g., the proportion of births to unmarried women). We argue that these transformed associations reflect societal level responses that, in some contexts, have eased the incompatibility between mother and worker roles, and loosened the link betweenmarriage and childbearing. These arguments imply that societal responses to mother/worker incompatibility exert substantial influence on fertility levels in low fertility countries.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA

    Ronald R. Rindfuss

  2. Department of Sociology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA

    Karen Benjamin Guzzo

  3. Department of Sociology, Duke University, Durham, NC, 27708, USA

    S. Philip Morgan

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  1. Ronald R. Rindfuss
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  2. Karen Benjamin Guzzo
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  3. S. Philip Morgan
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Rindfuss, R.R., Guzzo, K.B. & Morgan, S.P. The Changing Institutional Context of Low Fertility. Population Research and Policy Review 22, 411–438 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:POPU.0000020877.96401.b3

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