DOI: 10.4054/DemRes.2014.30.64 Research Article

2012

This study explores how the relationship between employment and the timing of parenthood changes under conditions of state socialism and a free market economy. Specifically, labor market entrance, duration and career establishment are related to the timing of parenthood over two very different economic contexts—before Estonia’s independence from the Soviet Union and after 1991. The transition to a market economy was accompanied by both greater employment insecurity and opportunities, which were distributed unevenly over the population. We focus on gender and nativity status as two stratifiers in the labor market. Men have postponed parenthood to a greater degree than women, and non-native origin women have postponed parenthood the least of all. Hazard models reveal that in the market economy, it is equally important for women and men to achieve their own security and tenure in the labor market before becoming parents. The importance of an established position in the labor market, me...

European Integration Studies, 2013

The article is based on a study which analysed the participation of women and men in the labour market and birth rate in the current situation of population ageing in the EU. The article disserts the following subthemes: possibilities for women and men to balance work-life situations; women's and men's willingness to balance work-life; agents affecting the stances of women and men, and various strategies for combining work and family life. Study results allege that: women's active participation in the labour market does not have a negative effect on birth rate if the government provides mothers with social security support for the future; the contentment of Swedish and Finnish respondents´ with their present governments' family supporting measures affirm that Nordic countries have been successful forerunners in adopting family policy measures to back up mothers.

2006

2005

Increasing the labour market participation of women is one of the main goals of the European Employment Policy. The development of the last years shows that many countries have been successful on their way to integrate women into the labour market. But the linking between employment and family patterns has strengthened the problem of declining fertility rates. However, the experience in northern countries like Denmark and Finland shows, that high female employment does not necessarily have to lead to a decline in birth rates. Policies promoting the reconciliation of work and family serve not just gender equality but also a positive demographic development. The presentation is based on the results of a just finished research project on factors influencing female labour market participation in Denmark, Finland, Germany and Austria. 1 In the paper we compare the four countries concerning their parental leave schemes and ask how they fulfil the criteria to support good transitions between family work and the labour market. Another criteria we study is gender equity. The comparison between the Nordic countries and the conservative countries shows aspects where reforms in conservative welfare states could start. 1 Wroblewski A., Leitner A. (2004), Umbau von Arbeitsgesellschaften. Eine Chance zur geschlechtergerechten Verteilung von Arbeit, Zeit und Einkommen, Studie im Auftrag der Hans-Böckler Stiftung (D) und des Bundesministeriums für Bildung, Wissenschaft und Kultur (A), Wien.

2011

Demographic Research

This paper examines how family-building transitions (union formation and first birth) affect the attitudes of Swedes toward work and parenthood. The literature finds that these life course transitions have a traditionalizing effect on gender roles. Is this also the case in Sweden, one of the most gender-equal countries in the world? METHODS Our study uses the longitudinal Young Adult Panel Study database. We run firstdifference OLS regressions on the relationship between family-building transitions and work and parenthood attitudes, distinguishing men from women, and those with more education from those with less. RESULTS We find that family transitions do slightly traditionalize attitudes toward work and parenthood, but differences by gender and education are very small. DISCUSSION AND CONTRIBUTION The overall pattern is one of striking similarity between men and women, suggesting that the gender revolution is well advanced in Sweden; traditional gender differences remain primarily among those with less education.

Journal of Baltic Studies, 2019

The three Baltic countries experienced the most rapid population decline throughout the 1990s and 2000s in Europe. The resulting critical demographic situation motivated the governments of the Baltic states to pay more political attention to family policy issues than in the rest of Europe. The aim of the paper is to analyze the development of family policy in Baltic countries and factors that influenced it during the 2009 economic crisis. Also, the outcomes in terms of child poverty and fertility are highlighted. Results show that the economic resources and fertility level had an essential impact on family policy in the Baltic states. Economic support to families, in turn, directly alleviate the poverty level of families and indirectly influence fertility.

Demographic Research, 2010

This article examines the influence of educational attainment and enrolment on second births in Estonia, comparing the patterns before and after the onset of the societal transformation of the 1990s. While many Northern and Western European countries have shown a positive relationship between female education and second births, this pattern has not been found in Central and East European countries. Against that background, Estonia offers an interesting case with noticeably high second birth intensities for highly educated women. In the state socialist period, after controlling for the influence of other characteristics, including the partner's education, women with tertiary education were found to have higher second birth intensity than women from any lower educational strata. In the postsocialist period, the difference has grown smaller, but women with tertiary education still display a significantly higher transition rate to second birth than their counterparts with secondary education. Following the presentation of empirical findings, the article discusses the mechanisms that could underlie the observed relationship between education and fertility decisions in the changing societal context. The analysis employs microdata from the Estonian Generations and Gender Survey (GGS), conducted in 2004-05.