A Study On The Influence Of The Relative Status Of Couples On Fertility Intentions

Low fertility rate is a population problem that China will face in the long run.The report of the 20 th Party Congress proposed that Chinese modernization is the modernization of a huge population,reflecting the great importance the Party Central Committee attaches to population issues.With the implementation of the three-child birth policy,Families have more birth options available to them,and fertility decisions have further entered the family-led stage.At the same time,with social changes and transformations,women’s education level has increased and their status in the workplace has improved,and the external resources brought by their own social capital have given them more say in the family decision-making process.This paper analyses the fertility intentions of men and women in the light of the differences in the relative status of couples at the household level,and makes suggestions for the government to formulate and optimise targeted fertility policies according to different family situations,in order to strengthen gender equality awareness and increase the fertility intentions of families.Using the 2017 China General Social Survey(CGSS),this paper uses frequency descriptive analysis to understand the number of children that married people of childbearing age want to have,as well as the relative status of men and women;it also uses cross-sectional analysis to understand the fertility intentions of men and women under different relative status of couples,and to study whether there are differences in their fertility intentions and the characteristics of the differences.A cross-sectional analysis was conducted to find out whether there were differences between men and women in terms of their relative status and the characteristics of these differences.The study found that the number of children intended to have is predominantly two for both men and women,and that men have a preference for girls over women,while women have a preference for boys over men.In terms of the relative status of couples,the more equal the family status of couples,the higher the percentage of fertility intentions of couples;the higher the economic and social status of women,the lower the percentage of fertility intentions.The higher the economic and social status of women,the lower their fertility intentions.In terms of the division of household chores,the higher the percentage of men’s household chores compared to their wives,the lower their fertility intentions.In terms of impact studies,the relative socio-economic status of couples,a lower level of education than that of the husband has a significant positive impact on the number of children women are willing to have,a higher relative occupational prestige than that of the husband has a significant negative impact on the number of children women are willing to have,a higher relative income than that of the wife has a significant positive impact on both the number of children men are willing to have and the number of children they are willing to have three or more,and a higher level of income for men than that of their wives will A higher level of income for a man than for his wife increases the number of children he is willing to have.In terms of relative family status,a woman’s higher power to make decisions about family matters has a negative effect on her willingness to have more children,while the power to make decisions about childcare and parenting does not increase women’s willingness to have children,and the power to spend money on the family has a positive effect on women’s willingness to have more children,but has no significant effect on women’s willingness to have more children.For men,making decisions about parental care is a significant deterrent to their fertility intentions,while the power to allocate household expenditure has no significant effect on their fertility intentions,while the power to make high-cost consumption decisions has a significant positive effect on their fertility intentions.There is no significant effect on men’s willingness to have three or more children,but there is a significant negative effect on men’s willingness to have three or more children when their share of household work is higher than that of their spouse.Based on the empirical analysis and research findings,this paper makes the following recommendations from the perspective of public administration: improve the mechanism of equal protection for women in employment to address women’s concerns about childbirth;promote the socialisation of domestic work to reduce the burden of housework on child-rearing families;and strengthen gender equality advocacy to promote gender equality awareness in society.Figure [1] table [35] reference [58]...