The Impact of Subjective Work Control, Job Strain and Work?CFamily Conflict on Fertility Intentions: a European Comparison

The link between employment and fertility is often only examined by focussing on women's labour market status or the impact of part- versus full-time employment. This study introduces a new explanation by extending research to examine how women's subjective perceptions of control or autonomy over work, job strain and work-family conflict influence fertility intentions. National-level measures of childcare enrolment under the age of three and the occurrence of part-time work are also included to examine their relation to fertility intentions and their interplay with perceptions of work. Using data from 23 countries from the 2004/5 European Social Survey (ESS), multilevel logistic regression models of fertility intentions are estimated separately for women without children and women with one child. Women with higher levels of work control are significantly more likely to intend to have a second child. Higher levels of job strain (time pressure) significantly lower fertility intentions for mothers in contexts where childcare availability is low. The prevalence of part-time work amongst the female work force significantly predicts the intention to become a mother but has different effects for women who work part-time themselves compared with full-time employees.     

Employment After Parenthood: Women of Migrant Origin and Natives Compared

Motherhood negatively affects female employment in majority populations across Europe. Although employment levels are particularly low among women of migrant origin, little is known about the motherhood–employment link in migrant populations. This paper investigates whether family formation differentially affects the labour market position of migrant women and their descendants compared to natives. Using longitudinal microdata from the Belgian social security registers, 12,167 women are followed from 12 months before until 48 months after the birth of their first child for the period 1999–2010. Levels of activity (versus inactivity), employment (versus unemployment) and full-time employment (versus part-time employment) are compared between natives and first- and second-generation women of Southern European, Eastern European, Turkish and Moroccan origin. We find that activity and employment levels decrease to a larger extent following the transition to parenthood among women of migrant origin than among natives. With respect to activity levels, differences between second-generation women and natives are largely explained by socio-demographic and pre-birth job characteristics, while differences between first-generation women and natives are not, suggesting that other factors such as tied migration patterns determine labour market attachment among first-generation mothers. With respect to employment levels, unemployment is increasing more among women of migrant origin of both generations than among natives, also when controlling for background characteristics, which signals differential access to stable job positions as well as to family policies. In sum, the results draw attention to the challenge that parenthood creates for mothers of migrant origin in terms of retaining and gaining employment, but also to the role of labour market entry and early career positions.     

Family Policy and After-Birth Employment Among New Mothers – A Comparison of Finland, Norway and Sweden

This article compares the employmentpatterns of women after first and second birthin Finland, Norway and Sweden during 1972–1992,focusing on the impact of parental leave andchildcare programs on the transitions tofull-time and part-time work. The resultsunanimously point to the great importance ofthe programs. Women who are entitled to a paidleave have a much higher overall employmententry rate during the first three yearsfollowing birth than non-eligible women.But since mothers tend to use their fullentitlement, the higher entry rates are largelyconcentrated to the period after leave expiry,except in Sweden where entitled mothers havehigher entry rates also during the leaveperiod. This is probably a result of thegreater flexibility of the Swedish program. Inall countries, leave extensions delay thereturn to work among entitled mothers andreduce their excess entry rate. Moreover, theFinnish home-care allowance system is found toreduce employment entry. On the whole, thissuggests that very long leave entitlements andchild-minding benefit programs could havenegative consequences for women's career andearnings potentials and may preserve an unequaldivision of labour in the family.     

The Impact of Family Policies on Fertility Trends in Developed Countries

We examine how strongly fertility trends respond to family policies in OECD countries. In the light of the recent fertility rebound observed in several OECD countries, we empirically test the impact of different family policy instruments on fertility, using macro panel data from 18 OECD countries that spans the years 1982–2007. Our results confirm that each instrument of the family policy package (paid leave, childcare services and financial transfers) has a positive influence on average, suggesting that the combination of these forms of support for working parents during their children’s early years is likely to facilitate parents’ choice to have children. Policy levers do not all have the same weight, however: in-cash benefits covering childhood after the year of childbirth and the provision of childcare services for children under age three have a larger potential influence on fertility than leave entitlements and benefits granted around childbirth. Moreover, we find that the influence of each policy measure varies across different family policy contexts. Our findings are robust after controlling for birth postponement, endogeneity, time-lagged fertility reactions and for different aspects of national contexts, such as female labour market participation, unemployment, labour market protection and the proportion of children born out of marriage.     

中日“生殖健康与身体政治”国际学术研讨会综述

生殖健康与身体政治存在着密不可分的关系。在分娩的近代化过程中,生殖问题并非由妇女单独一方主宰,而是国家政策、市场导向、社会需求、家庭结构、村庄利益、生育文化和妇女本人相互博弈的结果。在此过程中,妇女逐渐形成能够贯彻自我意志的生育主体,但国家和市场也开始更加有效地介入妇女身体,潜在影响妇女自我意志的形成。在研究中,要采用多元交叉的视角,重视国家、资本、文化的交叉作用,也要注意到妇女的能动性和差异性。     

The Effect of Grandparental Support on Mothers’ Labour Market Participation: An Instrumental Variable Approach

Childcare arrangements are key in women’s ability to juggle motherhood and work outside the home. As such, the study of access to childcare and its use is of great policy relevance. We focus on a particular kind of informal childcare, the one provided by grandparents. Empirically, assessing the effect of grandparental childcare is not an easy task due to unobserved preferences. In light of the potential outcome framework, we interpret the biases resulting from unobserved preferences as arising from the non-compliance of mothers to the availability of grandparents and from preferences of grandparents for activities other than childcare. Using an instrumental variable approach on Italian data, we find that the effect of grandparental childcare on mothers’ labour supply is positive, statistically significant and economically relevant. The effect is stronger for less educated mothers, with young children and living in northern and central Italy.     

A Typology of Dutch Mothers’ Employment Narratives: Drifters,Privilegeds, Balancers,Ambitious

The sharp increase in Dutch mothers’ labour market participation in recent decades has led to remarkable heterogeneous working patterns. This variation makes the Netherlands an interesting case with which to explore how mothers differ in their ‘narratives of choice’ and (early adult and present) attitudes towards work, gender and motherhood. This was conducted through 39 semi-structured interviews with mothers living in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. The study builds further on the scientific work on relationships between attitudes and personal preferences on the one hand, and employment behaviour on the other (e.g. Hakim, in Br J Sociol 54(3):339–345, 2003; Hakim, in Ashgate Publishing Limited, Hants, 2003; Halrynjo and Lyng, in Br J Sociol 60(2):321–343, 2009; Hoffnung, in Sex Roles 50(9–10):711–723, 2004; Sanders and Beekes, in Wolters-Noordhoff, Groningen, 1993; Thompson, in J Sci Study Relig, 30(4):381–394, 1991). Most of these studies are based on large surveys which lack the details of behavioural steps, preferences and attitudes that mothers themselves underline as relevant while describing their employment decisions. This qualitative study reveals a typology of Dutch mothers, based on the variety of their narratives of choice and considerations regarding the ideal gender division of labour, work and motherhood. The study also reveals a ‘narrative of acceptance’ among all interviewees regarding their spouses’ contribution to the unpaid work, accompanied by a disappearance of gender concerns.     

Labour Market Participation of French Women over the Life Cycle, 1935–1990

Employment histories with multiple spells and time varyingcovariates help identify determinants of labour markettransitions of women in France between 1935 and 1990. Higher educatedwomen were more likely to become inactive, but returned to work also moreeasily, especially when they added work experience. Being married,whether mother or not, induced a rearrangement of time betweenstaying at home and labour, in rendering exit from employment morelikely and return from inactivity to employment less likely. Exits from employment were lessfrequent for mothers of larger families, while return toemployment decreased with the total number of children, in spite of thegrowing financial needs of larger families. Transitions betweenemployment and inactivity increased with favourable economicconditions. However, involuntary exits from employment were moreprobable during economic downturns.     

Return Migration of Foreign Students

Using administrative panel data, this paper presents a comprehensive empirical analysis of the return of recent foreign students in the Netherlands. We focus on how individual labour market changes and marriage formation influence their decision to leave. Our model allows for correlated unobserved heterogeneity across the migration, the labour market and the marriage formation processes. The large size of the data permits us to stratify the analysis by five groups based on the country of birth. The empirical analyses reveal that when students become unemployed they leave faster. The effect of finding a job on return is more ambiguous. For students from developed (including EU) countries it hardly affects their return, while students from less developed countries and Antilles/Surinam are more prone to leave after finding a job. Marriage in the Netherlands makes the students more prone to stay.     

Who Delays Childbearing? The Associations Between Time to First Birth,Personality Traits and Education

Using data from a large-scale survey, the British Household Panel Survey, this paper assesses the influence of personality traits on the timing of first childbirth and investigates whether, and in what way, personality traits explain the differences in maternity timing across educational groups. We estimate a log-logistic model of the time to first childbirth and show that there is a statistically significant relationship between the Big Five personality traits and the timing of motherhood. The results also show that highly qualified women who are ‘open-minded’ have the lowest hazards of childbirth, lower than similar less educated counterparts.     

限制兼任教师与民国大学学术职业发展

民国初期,政府通过教学工作量将大学教师职业划分为专任教师和兼任教师两种类型。当时,大学盛行聘请兼任教师及专任教师在外校兼课,兼任教师和专任教师之间的区别不明显。这种现象受到了海内外学者的批评,此后,中国的学界、大学和政府逐渐限制兼任教师:学界注重构筑官职和学术职业的界限,限制大学专任教师兼任官职|大学约束本校教师外出兼课|政府限制大学聘请过多的兼任教师。到民国后期,中国大学学术职业的专任程度逐步提高。这一历程反映了大学由注重教学绩效向关注学术质量的转变。     

Use It or Save It? Migration Background and Parental Leave Uptake in Sweden

Sweden is a welfare state with a family policy that strongly emphasizes equality without distinction by place of birth or gender. In this study, we investigate the differences in uptake of parental leave between native and immigrant mothers, and the connection to labour-market attachment. Sweden represents a unique case study, not only because of the strong effort to combine work and family for all women and men, the high level of fertility and the large presence of immigrants in the country; it also enables a detailed and sophisticated analysis based on the high-quality data derived from its population registers. We find that immigrant mothers use more parental leave benefit the first year after their child’s birth, but then fewer in the second year compared with native mothers. The differences diminish when labour-market activity is controlled for. Additionally, after a time in Sweden, immigrant mothers use leave more similarly to how native mothers do.     

Migration and social change: a longitudinal study of the social mobility of ‘immigrants’ in England and Wales

Data from the OPCS Longitudinal Study is used to examine the social mobility of ‘immigrants’ in England and Wales between 1971 and 1981. Three issues are raised: (i) in what respects and to what degree do ‘immigrants’ differ in their social mobility characteristics from the norm set by the population as a whole?; (ii) in what respects and to what degree do ‘immigrants’ differ amongst themselves in their social mobility characteristics according to their country of origin?; and (iii) how do ‘second-generation immigrants’ and recently-arrived immigrants differ in their social class locations from those who have been in the British labour market for a considerable length of time?     

Gender Performances During Labor and Birth in the Midwives Model of Care

Previous research suggests many middle-class white women attempt to maintain femininity during labor and birth. There is also evidence that women who give birth outside the medical model may engage in more gender-deviant behaviors. The current study examines women’s accounts of gender performances during birth in the midwives model of care. Participants describe themselves engaging in a number of gender-deviant behaviors, without apology or overt remorse. However, participants also describe themselves engaging in activities during labor and birth that are traditionally considered feminine, including domestic tasks, care-giving and adhering to beauty norms; some defined childbirth itself as a feminine activity. Thus, participants are not simply adhering to or defying dominant notions of femininity, but are engaging in a complex set of gender behaviors. It is argued that study participants are prioritizing certain aspects of femininity—in particular, the “good mother”—over others.     

On making “choices”

The article points out the cost to women of the feminist decision to support women’s choice to work only in the home. The author argues that women who work only in the home hurt themselves, their children, and other women. The women who actually drop out may end up living in poverty. Dropping out, job-sharing, and working part-time are not solutions as long as these options are taken almost exclusively by women. The solution is to follow strategies that promote equal responsibility between men and women for childcare and housework, rather than encouraging women to work only in the home or to make their double burden work. Such strategies include marriage agreements that recognize the opportunity costs suffered by women who drop out of the workforce, and legislative changes that remove the tax and other benefits that subsidize married men whose wives work only in the home.     

Fertility Decline in Russia in the Early and Mid 1990s: The Role of Economic Uncertainty and Labour Market Crises

This paper analyses the fertility decline in Russia during theearly and mid 1990s from both a macro- and micro-perspective and presents astriking divergence between these two empirical viewpoints. While the formersuggests that the fertility decline after 1989 is associated with theeconomic hardship accompanying the transition to a market economy, themicro-evidence using the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey is to thecontrary. There is no negative association between labour market uncertaintyor a labour market crisis and fertility, and frequently there is even apositive association. That is, women or couples who are themselves affectedby labour market crises often had a higher probability of having anotherchild in the period 1994–1996 than women/couples who were less affected bysuch crises. The lack of a negative association, and the presence of apositive association in many instances, is surprising from the standpoint ofeconomic fertility theory. It is also contrary to many explanatory theoriesabout the recent fertility decline in Central and Eastern European countriesthat are built on a more or less direct connection between the labour marketor an economic crisis and low fertility.     

基于GEM模型的恩施富硒绿色食品产业集群竞争力研究

近年来,恩施土家族苗族自治州立足自身特色发展富硒绿色食品产业集群为当地经济快速发展做出了重要贡献。用GEM模型从“资源”、“环境”、“供应商和相关企业”、“厂商结构和战略”、“内部市场”、“外部市场”六个方面对恩施富硒绿色产品产业集群进行实证分析,可以对该产业集群竞争力做出一个合理的评估,从而进一步提高其市场竞争力。     

新建应用型大学师资队伍建设基本问题的内在逻辑

新建应用型大学以建设和发展应用型学科和专业为主，培养从事专业实际工作的应用型人才，这就决定了新建应用型大学师资队伍建设的内在逻辑是：以应用为指引方针，对应用型与非应用型、专职与兼职、教学型、教学科研型及科研型教师进行分类指导是根本原则，提升教师个人及整个师资队伍的应用能力是核心战略，而提升能力的基本途径则是加强团队合作，校地、校企、校际合作和国际合作。应用指引、分类指导、能力提升和合作途径等四个基本问题，都贯穿着体制机制的建设与创新，乃题中应有之义。     

Childcare Cash Benefits and Fertility Timing in Norway

In 1998 a new cash benefit for parents with young children was introduced in Norway. Its purpose was to provide a cash payment to parents who either preferred to care for their children at home or to compensate those who were not offered external childcare provision. It has been argued that the new policy encouraged women to stay at home with their children, possibly reducing labour supply. The policy was consequently considered gender-biased, creating reduced incentives for women to participate in the labour market and therefore encouraging a more traditional division of labour of husbands and wives. Given this background of the policy, we undertake an analysis in two parts. We ask first the question “who takes the cash benefit?” Second, by applying simple matching techniques, we ask the question “Do couples taking the benefit behave differently in terms of their fertility timing?” Using information from Norwegian registers we find that more traditional households (in a broad sense) are more likely to take the cash benefit. Those taking the benefit accelerate childbearing significantly, though the reasons why they do so varies by socio-economic groups.     

失独家庭有限代孕权利的国家保障

我国失独家庭数量甚为庞大，其特殊保障问题已为社会关注热点，尤其是最为突出的再生育问题。由于失独家庭大都丧失生育能力，代孕乃是其实现再生育的主要途径。基于失独家庭的特殊性，对其有限开放代孕并不违反伦理道德，在法理和情理上也均具有合理性，且失独家庭因遵守国家计划生育政策而承受了失独的不利后果，故其选择代孕方式实现再生育的行为应当获得国家保障。国家不仅应当通过代孕类型、代孕条件、代孕程序等方面的制度构建来保障代孕的有序运行，还应通过扶助模式、扶助资金、扶助标准等方面的制度构建来对失独家庭代孕予以必要救助。