Tag Archives: Women
Markedly lower child mortality in Malawi and Uganda with more educated mothers
Net recul de la mortalité infantile au Malawi et en Ouganda pour les mères plus instruites
Liliana Andriano, Christiaan Monden
Using data from Demographic and Health Surveys, Liliana Andriano and Christiaan Monden show that, everything else equal, each additional year of maternal schooling reduces children’s probability of dying before age 5
read more →
Free childcare could increase African women’s economic empowerment
Services gratuits de garde d’enfants: un moyen d’accroître l’autonomie économique des femmes africaines
Shelley Clark, Caroline Kabiru, Sonia Laszlo, Stella Muthuri
Offering free daycare services could substantially increase female employment in Africa. Results from a randomized control trial conducted by Shelley Clark, Caroline Kabiru, Sonia Laszlo, and Stella Muthuri in an informal settlement in Nairobi,
read more →
Is the traditional gender-specialised division of labour still associated with higher fertility?
La répartition genrée des tâches est-elle encore associée à une fécondité plus élevée ?
Zhou Muzhi, Man-Yee Kan
In Great Britain, compared to 20 years ago, the traditional gender division of labour is no longer benefiting fertility, note Muzhi Zhou and Man-Yee Kan. Nowadays, couples with more children are less likely to adopt the male-breadwinner, female-homemaker model,
read more →
Fertility preferences and reproductive outcomes in the developing world
Désir d’enfant et fécondité réalisée dans les pays en développement
John Bongaarts, John Casterline
The implementation of fertility desires through contraception is imperfect, resulting in unplanned births and induced abortions. The highest unplanned pregnancy rates (over two pregnancies during a woman’s lifetime) are observed in countries approaching the end of the fertility
read more →
Female political empowerment decreases mortality in developing countries
La participation politique des femmes réduit la mortalité dans les pays en développement
Ross Macmillan, Naila Shofia, Wendy Sigle
Gender equality in political participation may make a difference. Ross Macmillan, Naila Shofia, and Wendy Sigle show that women’s presence in national legislatures above a threshold of around 30 percent is associated with significant declines in childhood and maternal mortality, even after controlling for other features of women’s status like education and labour force participation.
read more →
Is retirement detrimental to later-life cognition?
La retraite nuit-elle aux fonctions cognitives des seniors ?
Irene Mosca, Robert E. Wright
A growing body of research has suggested that one way to preserve cognition in later-life is to delay retirement and continue to work into the later years. Irene Mosca and Robert E. Wright test this hypothesis using data for older Irish women. They find that women who have been retired for longer have lower cognition.
read more →
The myth of the sandwich generation in Brazil
Le mythe de la génération sandwich au Brésil
Maria Carolina Tomás, Everton Emanuel Campos de Lima, Bernardo Lanza Queiroz
Due to rapid and profound demographic changes, population age structure in Brazil has changed sharply in the past few years. Contrary to widespread belief, however, Maria Carolina Tomás, Everton Emanuel Campos de Lima and Bernardo Lanza Queiroz note that this process
read more →
Present and future of female genital mutilation/cutting in Europe
Mutilations génitales féminines/excision en Europe: état des lieux et perspectives
Livia Elisa Ortensi
Although previously unknown among natives in EU28, the practice of female genital mutilation/cutting is a present concern for European policymakers. As many as 500,000 foreign-born girls and women in Europe have probably undergone the practice
read more →
Women, demography and politics
Femmes, démographie et politique
Udi Sommer
Demographic variables, female-related predictors in particular, have an independent effect on political structure. Comparing different countries over time, when fertility rates decline, we observe a growth in democracy.
read more →
Advanced maternal age and low birth weight
Maternité tardive et faible poids à la naissance
Alice Goisis
The negative association between advanced maternal age and low birth weight has become progressively weaker over time in the UK (between 1958-2001). This pattern, as Alice Goisis explains, is partly linked to secular changes in the characteristics of older mothers.
read more →
U.S. teen mothers’ smoking risk in adulthood
Le risque tabagique à l’âge adulte des mères adolescentes américaines
Stefanie Mollborn, Juhee Woo, Richard Rogers
After following about one thousand U.S. teen mothers into young adulthood, Stefanie Mollborn, Juhee Woo, and Richard Rogers, found that these women are 2.5 times as likely as other women to smoke as young adults, with the highest risk among Whites.
read more →
Fewer consanguineous marriages of Muslims in Israel
Moins de mariages consanguins parmi les musulmanes en Israël
Jona Schellekens, Guy Kenan, Ahmad Hleihel
Consanguinity has important implications for public health as it increases the risk of passing on autosomal recessive genetic disorders to the next generation. Thus, it is important that we learn more about the factors that may contribute to a decline in consanguineous marriage.
read more →
Parental leave uptake among migrant and native mothers in Belgium
Prise de congé parental chez les mères immigrées et autochtones en Belgique
Tine Kil, Jonas Wood, Karel Neels
Family policies such as parental leave schemes increasingly support the work-family balance. Although labour force participation has increased in recent decades among mothers in majority populations, maternal employment levels and uptake of family policies remain low
read more →
Poverty is falling faster for female-headed households in Africa
En Afrique, la pauvreté diminue plus rapidement pour les ménages dirigés par une femme
Dominique van de Walle, Annamaria Milazzo
Living standards have risen generally, and poverty rates have fallen across Sub-Saharan Africa since the late 1990s (Chen and Ravallion, 2013). Less is known about how different groups have fared.
read more →
Unstable union history linked to higher childhood mortality risk
Instabilité conjugale des mères et mortalité des enfants dans le Sud
Laurie F. DeRose
The marriage-go-round can be a costly ride for children in post-industrial countries as family instability is associated with elevated risk of negative outcomes like teen pregnancy, depression, aggression, asthma, and obesity.
read more →
Children born to a lone mother and their well-being in the UK
Le bien-être des enfants de mères célibataires au Royaume-Uni
Elena Mariani, Alice Goisis
Numerous studies have looked at the relationship between family structure and child well-being. Overall, the evidence suggests that children who grow up in a household with two married biological parents, on average, do better than those growing up with a single mother (Bernardi and Boertien 2017; Sigle-Rushton and McLanahan 2014; McLanahan et al. 2013). However,
read more →
Sharing routine housework and desire for more children in East Asia
Le partage des tâches ménagères et le désir d’enfants en Asie de l’Est
Man-Yee Kan, Ekaterina Hertog
Low fertility levels have become a typical characteristic of industrialised countries where two distinct patterns are observed. A number of countries, especially in southern Europe and East Asia, have persistently low fertility levels. Another group of countries, such as Sweden and Finland, after a period of fluctuation, have managed to achieve fertility close to replacement
read more →
Surrogacy: a multi-faceted phenomenon
La gestation pour autrui: une réalité complexe et plurielle
Virginie Rozée, Laurent Toulemon
Although still rare among assisted reproductive technologies (ART)¹, surrogacy is a very controversial subject: some consider it as a new way to overcome infertility,
read more →
Family planning in the slums of Nairobi, Kenya
Planning familial dans les bidonvilles de Nairobi, Kenya
Donatien Beguy, Alex C. Ezeh, Blessing U. Mberu, Jacques B.O. Emina
In Kenya, rapid population growth has occurred amidst poor urban governance and limited employment opportunities, leading to widespread urban poverty that is concentrated in informal settlements or slums.
read more →
Will international adoption be replaced by surrogacy?
La gestation pour autrui va-t-elle remplacer l’adoption internationale?
Jean-François Mignot
Until the 1960s and 1970s, infecund (sterile) Western couples who desired a child but could not have one of their own could usually adopt a child in their home country. However, as contraception developed and induced abortion became legal in the West, fewer and fewer children were unwanted and abandoned by their birth parents and
read more →
Marriage then the baby carriage?
Mariage et fécondité dans les pays développés d’aujourd’hui
Jennifer A. Holland
The mid-20th-century was a Golden Age of marriage in Europe and the United States. People married early, usually in their early-to-mid-20s, and often, with over 90% of people marrying at least once in most countries (Sobotka & Toulemon 2008). Fast forward to the early 21st century: fewer people marry and those who do wait longer,
read more →
Eradicating induced abortion? Lessons from 20th Century France
Empêcher l’avortement? L’histoire française du XXe siècle
Fabrice Cahen
In France, for two decades – roughly from the late 1930s to the late 1950s – induced abortion was not only prohibited, it was well and truly the target of a war (Cahen, 2016). What can 21st century citizens learn from this historical episode? From moral rejection to public policies The moral perception of induced
read more →
Assimilation and birth outcomes of Hispanics in the US
Mariages mixtes et issue des grossesses des Hispaniques aux États Unis
Osea Giuntella
The immigrant health effect is a well-known public health fact observed in many advanced economies. Immigrants tend to be healthier than natives, though their health advantage erodes over time.
read more →
The geography of female-breadwinner and equal-income couples in Europe
La géographie européenne des couples où la femme gagne autant ou plus que l’homme
Agnese Vitali, Bruno Arpino
An increasing number of couples today are dependent upon women’s labour income. Along with an increase in dual-earner couples, couples where the woman out-earns her partner are also on the rise in Europe (Vitali and Mendola 2014).
read more →
Beyond mothers who father: the study of female headship
Au-delà des pères absents: les ménages où le chef de famille est une femme
Chia Liu
More than half of a century has passed since Edith Clark first wrote “My Mother Who Fathered Me” in 1957, a classic study on single motherhood (marriage, sex, and concubinage) in Jamaica at the time. The Caribbean, along with Latin America, continue to experience high levels of non-marital childbearing today.
read more →
Adolescent fertility in Latin America and the Caribbean
La fécondité des adolescentes en Amérique latine et dans les Antilles
Jorge Rodriguez Vignoli
Up until the 1970s, the Latin American and Caribbean region stood out for its high levels of fertility. Decline was rapid in subsequent years, but adolescent fertility in the region is still a concern: it is the second highest in the world, after sub-Saharan Africa (Figure 1). According to the latest censuses and surveys, approximately
read more →
Smoking in Italy since World War II
Fumer en Italie, depuis 1950
Carl Ipsen
Smoking has obviously and significantly impacted human mortality. And while the death toll from smoking may be its most striking legacy, the study of smoking also reveals aspects of social, cultural, economic and political history, all areas that I explore in my monograph on the history of smoking in Italy in the nineteenth and twentieth
read more →
Is there a gender bias in births and child mortality in Indonesia ?
Peut-on parler de discrimination sexuelle en Indonésie?
Christophe Z. Guilmoto
Son preference and gender bias, which are revealed in births and child mortality, tend to be concentrated in South Asia, East Asia, Southeast Europe, and the South Caucasus—places where patrilineal and patrilocal family systems prevail.
read more →
If American women have it so bad, why should India’s women not “not join” the labor force?
Pour les Indiennes comme pour les Américaines, intégrer le marché du travail n’est pas aussi facile qu’on le décrit.
Alaka Basu
If there is one gender issue that has mainstream America rightly roiled up today, it has to do with women and work, or more specifically, women at work.
read more →
Allez les filles, au travail!
Valeria Solesin
Version française en bas. Two years ago, Neodemos received an article from Valeria SOLESIN, a young student who was then unknown to most demographers, in Italy or elsewhere. She was later to make herself known, both in Italy and in France, where she had in the meantime become a PhD student. Her life ended tragically
read more →