Title:	Women's Equality, Demography and Public Policies
Authors:	Alena Heitlinger
Keywords:	Women Government policy
Issue Date:	1993
Publisher:	Macmillan Press
Description:	The main purpose ofthis study is to explore the compatibility between pronatalism and women's equality in Canada, Great Britain, Australia and to a more limited extent, the United States. Rather than assuming (as so many demographers, feminists, sociologists and policy-makers have done) that promoting women's equality and elevating birth rates is incompatible, this study is designed to examine the propositions that there is no inherently antagonistic relationship ofthis sort and that there may be mutually compatible pronatal and gender equality policies. Pronatal policies have been classified according to a threefold distinc- tion between (1) coercive policies limiting access to abortion and/or contraception, (2) 'facilitative' measures associated with 'social protec- tion ofmotherhood' and (3) 'positive' pronatalist fiscal incentives. Since coercive pronatalist policies infringe upon individual reproductive rights, they cannot be seen in any way as being compatible with the goals of gender equality. As such, coercive pronatalist policies have been excluded from this study. The 'facilitative' policies that are included have been classified according to (a) whether the measures are based on or reinforce traditional sex roles, (b) whether they promote more egali- tarian sex roles while retaining some emphasis on sex differences and the special needs of women, or (c) whether they can be described as androgynous or gender-neutral.
URI:	http://10.6.20.12:80/handle/123456789/47407
ISBN:	0-312-09638--0
Appears in Collections:	Gender Studies

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