妇女当家会强化低生育水平吗?——一项关于家庭权力与生育决策的实证研究

妇女地位的提升对降低生育率有着重要作用。在低生育水平的湖北宜昌农村地区,数据分析表明,家庭权力在生育决策中产生重要影响,男性的生育观念更为传统,男性主导家庭权力可以提高家庭的生育意愿,而女性拥有越来越自主的生育决策权力以及更理性的、以核心家庭幸福为准则的生育观,但在这部分地区,没有证据显示妇女当家会直接降低生育率。因此,在妇女家庭权力日渐提升的趋势下,为防范极低生育水平、提升农村家庭的发展能力、为妇女生育提供良好的家庭支持和社会支持环境尤为重要。

Will Women in Dominant Position Strengthen the low Fertility Level: An Empirical Study on the Relationship between Family Power and Fertility Decision

The improvement of women”s status and family power has great influence on the declining fertility rate. Based on a survey on fertility intention in rural areas of Yi Chang, this paper suggests that in the lower fertility areas, family power is important to fertility decision in rural families. Compa-ring the male with the female, we find men”s birth-bearing concept is more traditional than women”s, and the fertility rate tends to improve in the families that men have the dominant position, but we find no evidence which suggests that women in dominant position tend to have fewer children. Overall, this study suggests the importance of improving the development capacity of the rural families.