The price of motherhood – executive summary

Abstract

Conventional theories viewed female employment and fertility rates as being inversely related: The greater the involvement of women in the labour market, the less likely was it for them to have children. However, contrary to this logic, in Malta there is both a low female employment rate (40.6% in Q2 2011) and a low total fertility rate of 1.4 births per woman (NSO). This rate is considerably lower than the replacement rate of 2.1. Why does Malta score low in both female employment and fertility rate? Can such negative equation be reversed into a positive one? Contemporary international research may provide the key to interpreting the employment/fertility situation in Malta. Data emerging from OECD countries has been showing a consistent positive relationship between female employment and total fertility rate (e.g. Esping-Andersen, 1999). In line with this trend, Bettio and Villa (1998) and Del Boca, (2002) noted that those countries exhibiting a low compatibility between women’s paid work and childbearing had lower total fertility rates. According to Kohler, Billari and Ortega (2006), countries in the Southern European rim, including Italy and Spain, are suffering from ‘the lowest-low’ fertility trends of 1.3 or lower. They claim that in these two countries, the conservative welfare regime adopted helps to preserve traditional gendered roles. In these two countries, there is also a higher dependence on the family for the provision of care and welfare for its members.