Is gender inequality a barrier to realizing fertility intentions? Fertility aspirations and realizations in South Korea

Educational differentials on the transition to first birth in South Korea

Drawing on two competing frameworks, the leader-follower model and the permanent-difference model, this study examines the educational gradient in the transition to first birth across birth cohorts in South Korea. The leader-follower model suggests that low fertility behaviour would spread from more educated women to their less educated counterparts, whereas the permanent-difference model posits that the gaps in fertility between education groups would remain distinct over time. Using nationally representative panel data of 7914 women (130,078 person-years) born between 1960 and 1984, results from discrete-time survival analysis show an initial convergence of gaps in fertility between education groups, but the gaps are now re-emerging and widening. Substantial gaps in fertility are found in younger birth cohorts born between 1975 and 1984. The convergence-divergence pattern observed over time highlights the importance of recognising how women's changing educational profile affects fertility in an ultra-low fertility setting.

Childhood Emotional Abuse Is Associated With the Desire to Get Married and Have Children in Korean Young Adults

OBJECTIVE

Young adults putting off marriage and having less children have become recent trends in many modern societies. Yet less is known about the psychological factors underlying the drastically low marriage and fertility rates. We hypothesized that childhood maltreatment experience may have a negative association with one's marriage and childbearing intention.

METHODS

A total of 1,004 college students (mean age of 20.8±2.3 years, 56.1% female) completed self-questionnaires including sociodemographic information, marriage and childbearing intention, Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9), and Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ). Multivariable logistic regression analyses were conducted to evaluate the effect of childhood trauma on marriage and childbearing intentions after controlling for sociodemographic variables and depression.

RESULTS

29.7% had no intention to get married and 40.4% had no intention to have children in the future. The prevalence of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse was 33.1%, 18.5%, and 22.3%, respectively. Multivariable logistic regression analyses revealed that female (p<0.001), poor health status (p=0.001), and childhood emotional abuse (p=0.01) were independent predictors of no desire to get married. Female (p<0.001), poor health status (p<0.001), and childhood emotional abuse (p=0.038) were also predictors of no desire to have children.

CONCLUSION

Childhood emotional abuse may be the most damaging form among other types of childhood maltreatment because it can occur more pervasively and persist for a longer period, causing extensive damage to a child's emotional, social and cognitive development. Raising awareness regarding the life-long consequences of childhood emotional abuse and the need to prevent and detect childhood emotional abuse should be emphasized.

Childbearing intention and its associated factors: A systematic review

AIM

This study aimed to provide comprehensive information about the core determinants of fertility intentions.

DESIGN

Systematic review.

METHODS

Ovid, MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, CINAHL, Web of Science, SCOPUS and GOOGLE SCHOLAR were searched for the relevant articles published from 1946-December 2017. We updated our records by searching three computerized databases (Ovid MEDLINE, SCOPUS and WOS) from 2018-January 2021.

RESULTS

53 studies included in the qualitative synthesis. The results of some studies indicated the impact of demographic factors, physical and psychological health, happiness and child desire. The most frequent variables in a couple's mesosystem were marital status, parity, partnership satisfaction and gender role attitude. The mesosystem of childbearing intention also included family and peers network. The EXEO system of the ECSM includes certain variables, such as job characteristics, urban residence, housing condition. The macrosystem comprises cultural and societal principles with broader influences on the couple's system.

Are women neglected in the EU agriculture? Evidence from Lithuanian young farmers

The agriculture in Eastern Europe has seen a number of economic and social transitions. This research examines the gender inequality in agriculture by taking the case of an Eastern European country - Lithuania - as an example. The questionnaire survey was employed in order to check the existence of gender inequality. The study focuses on the young farmers as they are more likely to implement innovations and shape the future agricultural activities. The demand for advisory services and participation in the Common Agricultural Policy measures were used to compare the activities and perceptions of men and women young farmers. We found that there are no significant differences in participation of support measures and demand for advisory services across the genders. This suggests Lithuanian agricultural sector is equally beneficial for men and women young farmers. Given the differences in the educational background, a positive effect is anticipated if women were more empowered in Lithuanian agriculture. Women's participation in agriculture could increase environmental awareness, propensity to innovate and economic resilience.

Children of the (gender) revolution: A theoretical and empirical synthesis of how gendered division of labour influences fertility

Gender equity theories of fertility broadly predict that the lowest fertility in high-income settings will be seen in women facing a 'dual burden' of both paid and unpaid labour responsibilities, but that fertility will increase when male partners share domestic labour. Here we provide a critique of some gender equity theories of fertility in demography, and restate the hypothesis in terms of complementarity between partners. Further, we suggest authors use an interdisciplinary approach, such as integrating perspectives from evolutionary theory and the 'Traits-Desires-Intentions-Behaviour' framework, to provide some consistency to this diverse literature. Building on this theoretical synthesis, we perform a systematic review of 95 pieces of analysis. This broadly supports the idea that fertility will be low where women face a dual burden, which is particularly evident among macro-level studies, micro-level analyses investigating progression to subsequent children, and studies which do not use gender role attitudes as an independent variable.

Gender Discrimination in the Workplace: Effects on Pregnancy Planning and Childbirth among South Korean Women

Introduction: This study aims to investigate the association between gender discrimination in the workplace and pregnancy planning/childbirth experiences among working women in South Korea. Methods: We analyzed data from the Korean Longitudinal Survey of Women and Families (KLoWF) for the years 2007 to 2016. The study population consisted of 7996 working women, between the ages of 19 and 45. Gender discrimination was measured through the 6-item Workplace Gender Discrimination Scale, evaluating discrimination in terms of recruitment, promotions, pay, deployment, training and lay-offs. Multiple logistic regression analysis was employed to measure the association between gender discrimination and the pregnancy planning/childbirth experience. Results: Compared to individuals experiencing no discrimination in the workplace, those experiencing low [odds ratio (OR): 0.78, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 0.61-0.99] or medium (OR: 0.69, 95% CI: 0.54-0.89) levels of discrimination had decreased odds of pregnancy planning. Likewise, individuals scoring low (OR: 0.70, 95% CI 0.54-0.92), medium (OR: 0.68, 95% CI: 0.51-0.92), or high (OR: 0.47, 95% CI: 0.27-0.80) levels of discrimination also had decreased odds of childbirth experience when compared to the no-experience group. When stratified by income, compared to individuals experiencing no discrimination in the workplace, those experiencing gender discrimination had decreased odds of pregnancy planning for low income (low OR: 0.64, 95% CI: 0.45-0.92; medium OR: 0.55, 95% CI: 0.52-0.97; high OR: 0.45, 95% CI: 0.24-0.87), medium income (medium OR: 0.53, 95% CI: 0.37-0.77; high OR: 0.29, 95% CI: 0.14-0.63), and high income groups (low OR: 0.64, 95% CI: 0.49-0.84; medium OR: 0.69, 95% CI: 0.52-0.92). Conclusions: The present study finds that gender discrimination in the workplace is associated with decreased odds of pregnancy planning/childbirth experience among working South Korean women. Furthermore, low and medium income groups were especially more likely to be affected by the level of gender discrimination in the workplace when planning pregnancy.