Gender Equality and Fertility: Which Equality Matters?

Does gender equality matter for fertility? Demographic findings on this issue are rather inconclusive. We argue that one reason for this is that the complexity of the concept of gender equality has received insufficient attention. Gender equality needs to be conceptualized in a manner which goes beyond perceiving it as mere "sameness of distribution". It needs to allow for distinguishing between gender difference and gender inequality and thus to include notions of gender equity. In order to exemplify such an approach we sketch three dimensions of gender equality related to employment, financial resources, and family work, which incorporate this understanding: (1) the ability to maintain a household; (2) agency and the capability to choose, (3) gender equity in household and care work. We explore their impact on childbearing intentions of women and men using the European Generations and Gender Surveys. Our results confirm the need for a more nuanced notion of gender equality. They show that there is no uniform effect of gender equality on childbearing intentions, but that the impact varies by the dimension of gender equality assessed, by gender and by parity.