Duality of attitudes towards fertility among highly-educated women in East Asian Society
Recently the article published on AJS has shed light on the dilemma faced by highly-educated women in east asian society. The imcompatibility of childbearing and the career development has increased the anxiety for white-collar ladies in the working places.
The typical labor force participation of “M” shaped curve is a common life-cycle. The article claims that instead of choosing to bear no kid in the family, most of the couples voluntarily cut on the number of kid they can have in the family, a voluntary one-child pattern is then formulated in the process.
In reality, low fertility rate and attenuate aging in Japan is notorious for a long time, why the couples refuse or just hesitate to have a second baby?
The family power stucture affects the fertility decisions, and it varies between countries. Instead of a dual-earner arrangement, Japan has a long histroy of housekeeping wife. The distribution of household choose to exist in all three countries.
Interestingly, this study just include the in-depth interview results from Japan and Korea, while no other individual social-political economy has been given intension, especially China.
Harsh Truth and Education Inequality
In nearaly all OECD countries, the eduacation rate of women has surpassed men.
Demographic evidence accumulated shows that for education levels of women in China:
| Breakdown Percentage (%) | Urban | Rural |
|---|---|---|
| Percentage of women with No education | 3.5 | 6.6 |
| Percentage of women with Primary education | 10.3 | 29.4 |
| Percentage of women with \(\geq\) Secondary Education | 54.2 | 18.2 |
Notes: Source from ACWF-2010. op. cit
Infertility is also on the rise, and in Asia there’s still a stigma about it, but attitudes are changing as more couples take fertility tests. –South China Morning Post
