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Cognitive Dissonance and Fertility Rates: A Comparative Analysis of Attitudes toward the Gender Division of Labour in East Asian and Western Industrial Societies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 June 2020

Cheng-Huei Hong  and
Neil Gilbert
Cheng-Huei Hong
Affiliation:
Human Development and Family Studies, National Taiwan Normal University, E-mail: [email protected]
Neil Gilbert
Affiliation:
School of Social Welfare, University of California, Berkeley, E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

Based on data from the International Social Survey Program (ISSP), this study examines the extent to which cognitive dissonance regarding egalitarian attitudes toward the gender division of labour are associated with fertility rates in sixteen societies, representing Anglo American, Northern European, Western European and East Asian regimes. The findings show that although levels of support for gender equality in the realms of the family and the market are positively associated with fertility rates, an even stronger relationship to fertility emerges when weighing the differences between the levels of support for gender equality in each realm. The findings lend some corroboration to McDonald’s hypothesis, which suggests that declining fertility rates are influenced by contradictory expectations between gender equality for women in the home and market.

Keywords

Cognitive dissonancefertility rateswelfare state regimesgender equalitylabour market
Type
Articles
Information
Social Policy and Society , Volume 20 , Issue 1 , January 2021 , pp. 44 - 61
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2020

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