The Effects Of Childbearing Age Groups’ Gender Role Attitudes On Fertility Arrangements In The Context Of Low Fertility Rate

Over the past four decades,China has been in a period of relatively rapid fertility transition,economic development and social change.A culture of low fertility has gradually formed in China,shifting from policy low fertility to endogenous low fertility,gender equality has become an important entry point for understanding the fertility intentions of childbearing age groups.Taking into account the inconsistent pace of development of gender equality awareness between men and women,the inconsistent process of gender revolution in the public and private spheres,and the inconsistency between social policies and institutional arrangements on gender equality and the reality of gender equality,it is of great significance to understand the complex cultural and gender mechanisms behind the continuous low fertility level in China from the perspective of gender equality in the post-fertility transition era.It is conducive to better understanding the factors inherent in the formation of the current low-fertility society.Based on the data of China General Social Survey(CGSS)in 2017,this study focuses on the relationship between gender equality and fertility and constructs fertility arrangement according to fertility desire and fertility behavior.With the theoretical framework of gender revolution,the relationship between gender role attitudes and fertility arrangement of childbearing age groups under the new population situation is comprehensively analyzed from two dimensions of public realm and private realm,two levels of overall fertility arrangement and parity fertility arrangement,and the joint perspective of men and women.The heterogeneity of the influence of gender role attitudes on fertility arrangement of childbearing age groups is analyzed from four perspectives: gender difference,educational background difference,urban-rural difference and marriage and fertility difference.By introducing the frequency of Internet use,this paper deeply analyzes the moderating effect of Internet use on the relationship between gender role attitudes and fertility arrangement in the new era.The results show that :(1)the fertility arrangement of the childbearing age group is low,but there is some potential for two-child births;(2)the gender role attitudes of the childbearing age group tend to be flexible in general,but there are progress differences within the indicators.Women’s gender role attitudes are more flexible than men’s,and the pace of progress of gender role attitudes in the public sphere is faster than that of men’s gender role attitudes in the private sphere;(3)the flexible gender role attitudes of childbearing age group will have a significant inhibitory effect on their fertility arrangement,while the use of the Internet will promote the current flexible gender role attitudes to reduce the fertility arrangement of childbearing age groups;(4)Flexible gender role attitudes also significantly reduces the possibility of two-child birth arrangement in childbearing age groups,but has no effect on three-child birth arrangement;(5)There is a gender difference in the influence of gender role attitudes in the public and private realm on the reproductive arrangement of the childbearing age group.The flexible gender role attitudes in the public realm has a more significant inhibitory effect on women ’s reproductive arrangements,while the flexible gender role attitudes in the private realm will significantly reduce the reproductive arrangements of men of childbearing age.Based on this,this study believes that the gender revolution in Chinese fertility practice should have three stages;(6)The influence of gender role attitudes on fertility arrangement of childbearing age groups has educational background difference,marriage and childbearing difference and urban-rural difference.The gender role attitudes in the private realm has a greater impact on the fertility arrangements of the highly educated childbearing age groups,and gender role attitudes in the public realm has a greater impact on the fertility of the childbearing age groups without higher education.The negative impact of the flexible gender role attitudes in the public and private realm on the fertility arrangement of the childless group is greater than that of the group who have given birth.The flexible gender role attitudes in the public realm significantly reduces the fertility arrangements of non-agricultural household childbearing age groups.The above results show that the individual ’s low fertility tendency has never been their own choice,but is deeply related to the social gender structure,and its formation has a deep social gender cultural root.In the context of low fertility,fertility should be understood based on a deeper gender structure,and the current low fertility intention can be largely explained by the paradoxical reality of gender equality.Internet use reinforces the negative relationship between flexible gender role perceptions and fertility arrangements of reproductive age groups.We should be alert to the adverse selection of fertility brought by the Internet environment,strive to create a clear network environment,and form a fertility-friendly network environment.In addition,the study of gender equality and fertility relationship should distinguish the public and private realm of gender role attitudes,so as to more accurately capture the changes of fertility under the complex connotations of gender role attitudes.Under the new demographic situation,the change of male fertility intention is as important as that of women,and the changes of male fertility intention in the process of gender modernization cannot be ignored.Only by fundamentally promoting gender change in the private sphere of the family can the trend of gender modernization have a catalytic effect on fertility and gradually achieve the coordinated development of gender equality and steady increase in fertility,thus breaking the barriers of the reproductive age group In order to break the embarrassing situation of "not wanting to have children" and "wanting to have children but not daring to have children".