Abstract
Low fertility is an issue that is troubling many developed countries in Europe. In 2014, the average fertility rate for nations within the European Union (EU) was 1.58 live births per woman, which is well below the replacement rate of 2.1 needed to maintain a constant population size (ec.europa.eu). Declining fertility rates are considered a dilemma for policy makers within the EU. The low rates threaten the economic growth of the EU nations due to their inability to continue accommodating for an aging population without an adequate replacement of working-age adults to add to the pensions (Vos 2009).
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Abercrombie, N., Hill, S., & Turner, B. S. (1986). Dictionary of sociology. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books Ltd.
Baude, A. (1979). Public policy and changing family patterns of Sweden. In J. Lipman-Blumen & J. Bernard (Eds.), Sex roles and social policy (pp. 145–176). Beverly Hills: Sage.
Beckman, L. J. (1977). Exchange theory and fertility-related decision-making. Journal of Social Psychology, 103(2), 265–276.
Björklund, A. (2006). Does family policy affect fertility? Lessons from Sweden. Journal of Population Economics, 19(1), 3–24.
Blau, P. (1964). Exchange and power in social life. New York: Wiley.
Blum, S., & Erler, D. (2013). Germany country note. In P. Moss (Ed.), International review of leave policies and research 2013. Retrieved from http://www.leavenetwork.org/lp_and_r_reports/
Carlson, E. (2008). The lucky few: Between the greatest generation and the baby boom. New York: Springer.
Cygan-Rehm, K. (2015). Parental leave benefit and differential fertility responses: Evidence from a German reform. Journal of Population Economics, 29(1), 73–103. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00148-015-0562-z.
Durkheim, É. (1982). The rules of the sociological method. New York: The Free Press. (Original work published 1895).
Duvander, A.-Z. (2014). How long should parental leave be? Attitudes to gender equality, family, and work as determinants of women’s and men’s parental leave in Sweden. Journal of Family Issues, 35, 909–926.
Duvander, A.-Z., & Andersson, G. (2006). Gender equality and fertility in Sweden: A study on the impact of the father’s uptake of parental leave on continued childbearing. Marriage and Family Review, 39(1–2), 121–142.
Duvander, A.-Z., Lappegård, T., & Andersson, G. (2010). Family policy and fertility: Fathers’ and mothers’ use of parental leave and continued childbearing in Norway and Sweden. Journal of European Social Policy, 20(1), 45–57.
Erikson, R., & Goldthorpe, J. (1992). The constant flux: A study of class mobility in industrialized societies. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Esping-Andersen, G. (1999). Social foundations of postindustrial economies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Evertsson, M., Grunow, D., & Aisenbrey, S. (2016). Work interruptions and young women’s career prospects in Germany, Sweden and the US. Work, Employment and Society, 30(2), 291–308.
Farris, D. N. (2016). Boomerang kids: The demography of previously launched adults in the United States. Cham: Springer.
Ferrarini, T. (2006). Families, states and labour markets: Institutions, causes and consequences of family policy in post-war welfare states. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Pub.
Gangl, M., & Ziefle, A. (2015). The making of a good woman: Extended parental leave entitlements and mothers’ work commitment in Germany. American Journal of Sociology, 121(2), 511–563.
Gärtner, S. (2014). German stagnation versus Swedish progression: Gender wage gaps in comparison, 1960–2006. Scandinavian Economic History Review, 62(2), 137–162. https://doi.org/10.1080/03585522.2013.836986.
Geisler, E., & Kreyenfeld, M. (2012). How policy matters: Germany’s parental leave benefit reform and fathers’ behavior, 1999–2009 (MPIDR Working paper WP 2012-021). Rostock: Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research.
Haas, L., & Hwang, C. P. (2008). The impact of taking parental leave on fathers’ participation in childcare and relationships with children: Lessons from Sweden. Community, Work and Family, 11(1), 85–104.
Henninger, A., Wimbauer, C., & Dombrowski, R. (2008). Demography as a push toward gender equality?: Current reforms of German family policy. Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State and Society, 15(3), 287–314.
Hoem, J. M. (1990). Social policy and recent fertility change in Sweden. Population and Development Review, 16, 735–748.
Hoem, B. (2000a). Entry into motherhood in Sweden: The influence of economic factors on the rise and fall in fertility, 1986–1997. Demographic Research, 2. https://doi.org/10.4054/DemRes.2000.2.4.
Hoem, B. (2000b). Figure 1. “Total fertility rate for Sweden. Smoothed monthly figures, January 1962–June 1998.”. Demographic Research, 2. https://doi.org/10.4054/DemRes.2000.2.4.
Hong Li, J., & Singelmann, J. (1998). Gender differences in class mobility: A comparative study of the United States, Sweden, and West Germany. Acta Sociologica, 41(4), 315–333.
Kaufman, G. (2014). Superdads: How fathers balance work and family in the 21st century. New York: NYU Press.
Kluve, J., & Tamm, M. (2013). Parental leave regulations, mothers’ labor force attachment and fathers’ childcare involvement: Evidence from a natural experiment. Journal of Population Economics, 26(3), 983–1005.
Levmore, S. (2007). Parental leave and American exceptionalism. Case Western Reserve Law Review, 58(1), 203–222.
Lutz, W. (2006). Fertility rates and future population trends: Will Europe’s birth rate recover or continue to decline? International Journal of Andrology, 29(1), 25–32.
McDonald, P. (2000). Gender equity in theories of fertility transition. Population and Development Review, 26(3), 427–439.
Melamed, A. Z. (2014). Daddy warriors: The battle to equalize paternity leave in the United States by breaking gender stereotypes: A fourteenth amendment equal protection analysis. UCLA Women’s Law Journal, 21(1), 1–36.
Morgan, S. P., & Taylor, M. G. (2006). Low fertility at the turn of the twenty-first century. Annual Review of Sociology, 32, 375–399.
Neyer, G., & Andersson, G. (2008). Consequences of family policies on childbearing behavior: Effects or artifacts? Population and Development Review, 34(4), 699–724.
Poston, D. L., & Bouvier, L. F. (2010). Population and society: An introduction to demography. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Rosenbluth, F., Light, M., & Schrag, C. (2004). The politics of gender equality: Explaining variation in fertility levels in rich democracies. Women and Politics, 26(2), 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1300/J014v26n02_01.
Rosenfeld, R. A., Trappe, H., & Gornick, J. C. (2004). Gender and work in Germany: Before and after reunification. Annual Review of Sociology, 30, 103–124.
Rubery, J., Smith, M., & Fagan, C. (1999). Women’s employment in Europe: Trends and prospects. London: Routledge.
Spiess, C., & Wrohlich, K. (2008). The parental leave benefit reform in Germany: Costs and labour market outcomes of moving towards the Nordic model. Population Research and Policy Review, 27(5), 575–591.
Swedish Social Insurance Agency. (2012). Foraldrapenning: analys av anvandandet 197402011 [Parental benefit. Analysis of use 1974–2011] (Social Insurance Report 2012:9). Stockholm: Swedish Social Insurance Agency.
Vos, A. (2009). Falling fertility rates: New challenges to the European welfare state. Socio-Economic Review, 7(3), 485–503.
Wüst, M. (2009). German family policy at the crossroads: Analysing the impact of parental leave reform through simulation. International Journal of Social Welfare, 18(4), 407–418.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Copeland, P., Farris, D.N. (2020). Parental Leave Policy Influence on Fertility Rates: The Importance of Social Contexts on German and Swedish Reform with the United States as a Reference. In: Farris, D.N., Bourque, A.J.J. (eds) International Handbook on the Demography of Marriage and the Family. International Handbooks of Population, vol 7. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-35079-6_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-35079-6_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-35077-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-35079-6
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)