The effect of gender policies on fertility: The moderating role of education and normative context

Abstract

In this paper we aim to assess the extent to which individual-level completed/nfertility varies across contexts as characterized by policies that support different/ngender division of labor models. We examine key labor market and care policies/nthat shape gender relations in households and in the public domain. We also/nconsider the role of gender norms, which can act as both a moderator and a/nconfounding factor for policy effects. We hypothesize that, by facilitating role/ncompatibility and reducing the gendered costs of childrearing, policies that support/ngender equality lead to an increase in fertility levels and to a reduction in fertility/ndifferentials by level of education. We investigate two mechanisms. First, gender/nequality policies have a stronger positive impact on the better educated. Second, a/nhigh prevalence of gender equality norms in the population enhances the fertility/nimpact of these policies. Using individual-level data from the European Union/nSurvey on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) for 16 countries combined/nwith country-level data, we analyze completed fertility through multilevel Poisson/nmodels. We find that the national level of childcare coverage has a positive impact/non the number of children. Furthermore, its impact is greater among highly/neducated women. The overall effect of family allowances, prevalence of women’s/npart-time employment, and the length of paid leaves were also found to be/npositively associated with completed fertility, though the associations were not/nstatistically significant. However, these variables also show a significant positive/npattern according to education. A high number of average working hours for men/nhas a negative effect on completed fertility, with a strong negative pattern by/neducational level. These results suggest that policies steering gender equality have a/npositive effect on fertility, yet their effects are heterogeneous in the population. The/nprevalence of gender egalitarian norms is highly predictive of fertility levels, yet/nwe found no consistent evidence of a lower impact of gender equality policies in/ncountries where egalitarian values are less prevalent.