Gendered Patterns of Childlessness across Educational Levels in Low and Very Low Fertility Countries

Thiago Cordeiro Almeida , CED, Centre for Demographic Studies
Mariona Lozano, CED, Centre for Demographic Studies

In some countries, fertility behaviors have gradually converged across educational levels, while in other countries the difference remains. Childlessness is one of the main aspects associated with current fertility changes. Thus, the relationship between educational differences and childlessness is important to analyze. Previous studies have shown that the educational differences in childlessness among women seem to have disappeared, reduced, or shifted direction over time. In contrast, among men, past research in Europe has found that less-educated men have the highest rates of childlessness. Evidence by gender points to the relationship between economic disadvantage and childlessness, which seems to be more present for men, and changes in social norms and family dynamics, more present for women. This study analyzes the mechanisms underlying educational differences in childlessness among women and men in countries with low and very low fertility levels. We used the Harmonized History dataset II, produced by the Generation and Gender Project, to perform a descriptive analysis based on non-parametric estimation of the probability of staying childless among women and men by educational level and partnership status over the reproductive period. In further analysis, we will perform a discrete-time survival model to consider a more comprehensive methodological approach. We expect to find educational differences in childlessness depending on the gender equality and the level of social policies implemented across the countries. Also, it is expected that family formation dynamics interplay as an important mechanism for staying childless over the reproductive period.

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 Presented in Session 5. Flash Session Parenthood, Childbearing, and Family Formation