Exploring the link between gendered division of labour and reproductive decision-making in high-income countries.

In high-income countries, the existence of a ‘fertility gap’ between stated ideal and actual family size suggests there are impediments to women achieving their childbearing goals. Previous studies suggest that one potential impediment to childbearing could be female domestic burden: when women are expected to perform both paid and unpaid labour responsibilities without additional support, continued childbearing becomes challenging. This thesis explores whether division of domestic labour could help explain the fertility gap by evaluating its association with individual’s reproductive intentions, their fulfilment and eventual birth outcomes over time. To do so I examine how the theory, measurement and operationalisation of reproductive decision-making and gendered division of labour matters for the conclusions one can draw for this question. In this thesis I use a combination of theories from Demography, Sociology, Psychology and Evolutionary Anthropology. In Chapter 2, I outline how these theories can be combined and implemented into fertility research to improve our understanding of how and why gendered division of labour can affect reproductive decision-making. I then perform a systematic review of the literature on gender equity in the household and fertility in high-income countries (Chapter 3). The review highlights that the existing literature would benefit from more standardised data collection and analysis informed by theories of reproductive decision-making. To support this goal, I tested a new set of questions measuring reproductive decision-making using Miller’s Traits-Desires-Intentions-Behaviour framework. Chapters 4 and 5 discuss whether the questions adequately measure the underlying theoretical framework using short motives scales. I also report on qualitative findings about factors important to respondents’ decision-making. I draw conclusions from this about what might be missing from current theories and data collection on reproductive decision-making. A further issue that my systematic review highlights is that existing studies on the fertility gap at the individual level (i.e. exploring whether an intention or an ideal for children is realised), do not always consider how changes in reproductive decision-making over the life course may lead to erroneous conclusions about the causes for the fertility gap. I therefore explore how expectations for children change around first birth among women who only ever have one child in the USA and UK (Chapter 6). I find that these women expect closer to the normative ideal of two children prior to first birth and then revise downwards towards an expectation for one child in the five years after first birth. Extending from this work, Chapter 7 explores how division of household labour changes across the transition to first birth using Australian data. In doing so, I clarify how demographic characteristics, changing division of labour at first birth and future childbearing interconnect. The work presented in this thesis therefore has theoretical, practical, and substantive contributions to the study of gender equity and fertility, the fertility gap, and reproductive decision-making.