← Back to Vol. 06 Issue No. 06 — Issue 06
Abstract
Focusing on the period of policy and economic changes that occurred in many developed countries in the 1990s, the study offers a theoretical model which systematically examines the effect of women's employment on their fertility behavior across countries representing different cultural, institutional and economic environments. I expect that in contexts with high support for mothers' employment and their children, where the labor market is family-friendly and offers good opportunities for employment, and where the ideology supports a dual-earner model, women's employment will be less consequential to their fertility. The study, based on the Fertility and Family Survey, focuses on the effect of employment on the decision to enter parenthood and the decision to have a second child. To capture the simultaneity of work and fertility decisions, I employ a bivariate probit model. I find a positive effect of women’s employment on the likelihood of having a first child in the most supportive contexts, and a negative effect in settings that are least supportive of women's employment. However, in all settings employment reduces the likelihood of having a second child, which attests to the still unresolved incompatibility of family and work.