How Many Children in a Family? Fertility Ideals and Gender Equality Norms in 26 Societies

We examine the relationship between gender equality and fertility ideals, focusing on the role of societal norms about men’s participation in care and household work, known as the second half of the gender revolution. We set out to capture how the prevalence of this revolution translates into fertility ideals on the societal level and among different social groups. Data come from the ISSP module 2012, covering 26 societies. The first objective is to examine the relationship between gender equality norms and fertility ideals across national contexts. The second objective is to compare how measures of gender equality focusing on the first half of the gender revolution, and the second half, respectively, are associated with fertility ideals. As previous research focusing on the first half of the gender revolution noted and/or predicted that actual or intended fertility tends to be comparatively lower among women, the highly educated, younger generations, and the non-religious, our third objective is to analyse the extent to which norms embracing the second half have the capacity to modify these relationships. The results show that norms about gender equality are positively related to fertility ideals and seem to influence patterns of fertility ideals among social groups. In societies with strong gender equality norms, women, the highly educated, and the young display comparatively higher fertility ideals. In societies with weak gender equality norms, these patterns are reversed. Differences depending on gender equality norm measures were small but systematically in favour of those capturing the second half of the gender revolution.