Declining fertility in Taiwan: the deterring impact of housework imbalance

Abstract

ABSTRACT Fertility in Taiwan has been persistently low since 2003. Theorists have attributed this to gender inequity in domestic labour, yet this relationship has not been statistically tested. We assess the way in which the division of housework influences the probability of having an additional child. We assess this relationship for a sample of childbearing-aged married couples, as well as for education- and employment-specific subgroups. We find evidence of impacts for university-educated and working-mother couples, and when survey respondents are wives rather than husbands. The probability of a university-educated and working-mother couple with an equal division of housework having a child within five years is 0.73, whereas the probability of a couple with the mean division of housework having a child is 0.39. This finding is significant at the 1 per cent level.