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International Handbook on Gender and Demographic Processes pp 55–69Cite as

Gender in the Investigation and Politics of ‘Low’ Fertility

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Part of the book series: International Handbooks of Population ((IHOP,volume 8))

Abstract

In this review of research on gender and low fertility, I develop three main categories: (1) studies seeking to explain why fertility is low; (2) studies on the efficacy of fertility-related policies; and (3) critical feminist studies that analyze discourses surrounding low fertility and fertility-related policy. I provide examples of each to illustrate how researchers interested in fertility use the concept of gender and to what end. I suggest that by repeatedly asking why fertility is so low and examining possible factors that prevent people from having children, demographic studies often implicitly reinforce the notion that low fertility is undesirable. More critical work points us in different directions, revealing how pronatalist policies – and the discourses surrounding such policies – may have deleterious effects on gender equity. Finally, I discuss work that asks different questions, such as how demographic trends may contribute to shaping state policies and/or other gendered structures. I conclude that future research should analyze how demographic trends and patterns are both shaped by and also shape gender.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Gender is typically defined as the socially constructed set of rules and norms attached to the biologically-based (though also socially constructed) categories of sex and as a social structure that dictates behavior and allows for an unequal distribution of power and resources.

  2. 2.

    Throughout this paper I will use the term ‘low fertility’ while recognizing that the term is problematic in that ‘low’ is inherently comparative and might imply ‘too low.’ Researchers typically use ‘low fertility’ to mean total fertility rates that are well below the ‘replacement level’ of 2.1 children per woman.

  3. 3.

    I prefer ‘more or less affluent’ to ‘more or less developed’, as ‘developed’ implies superiority. However, much of the literature continues to use ‘more or less developed’, so I reluctantly use those terms when discussing such work.

  4. 4.

    While any type of social science research may have policy implications, the connection between research and policy is particularly close in the field of demography. Many U.S. demographers in the post WWII era were caught up in the ‘overpopulation’ discourse, advocating family planning in ‘less developed’ countries (see Greenhalgh 1996); and French demographers and policy makers have historically been concerned with documenting and addressing low fertility (see Le Bras 1993).

  5. 5.

    Note that almost all work on fertility implicitly addresses gender. To start with, fertility is measured in number of children per woman. Issues such as who takes care of children, whether women work in the paid labor force, women’s levels of education and many more gender-specific variables matter to fertility and have routinely been examined. However, though they used these variables, researchers typically did not address gender systems – in the sense of institutional and cultural structures or in terms of power – until recently (see Mason 1997).

  6. 6.

    Suzuki (2008) argues that most countries are more conservative than northern and western Europe and the English-speaking countries in terms of the role of women and the commitment to marriage. Thus, Suzuki foresees lowest-low fertility spreading to places like South America.

  7. 7.

    Interestingly, Rivkin-Fish (2010) also finds that reactions to government policy included a set of critiques of pronatalist programs that saw the ‘problem’ of low fertility as one of masculinity. According to some commentators, men have been emasculated by the state and economic situation such that they are no longer able to provide for families. Rivkin-Fish notes that such ideas contrast sharply with research arguing that increased gender equity supports higher fertility levels. She explains (2010: 721) that Russian critiques, by contrast, envision empowering men with renewed authority.”

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, Smith College, Northampton, MA, USA

    Leslie King

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  1. Leslie King
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Correspondence to Leslie King .

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  1. Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine, USA

    Nancy E. Riley

  2. Department of Anthropology, University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA

    Jan Brunson

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King, L. (2018). Gender in the Investigation and Politics of ‘Low’ Fertility. In: Riley, N., Brunson, J. (eds) International Handbook on Gender and Demographic Processes. International Handbooks of Population, vol 8. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-1290-1_4

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