The Influence Of Decision-making Power Of Husband And Wife On Fertility In The Family

In recent years,our country’s fertility rate has continued to decline.Therefore,it is necessary to study the influencing factors of China’s childbearing age population’s fertility intention and family fertility.This article uses the China Family Panel Studies(CFPS)survey data from 2014 to 2018.The full article takes the decision-making power of husband and wife as the core explanatory variable,selects five decisionmaking powers in family affairs,and compares the relationship between husband and wife in the family.The relative size of family decision-making power.By dividing the families in the sample into three types: wives with higher decision-making power,husbands and wives with equal decision-making powers,and husbands with higher decision-making powers,the influence of the relative size of the decision-making powers of husbands and wives in the family on the husband and wife’s fertility preferences and family fertility is studied.The regression results of this paper show that the decision-making power and the couple’s fertility intention affect the family fertility.The wife’s and husband’s fertility intention have a significant positive impact on the family fertility.However,compared with families with the equal decision-making power of the husband and wife,the positive influence of the wife’s fertility intention on the family fertility becomes smaller in the family with the wife’s higher decision-making power.similarly,compared with the families with the equal decision-making power of the husband and wife,the positive influence of the husband’s fertility intention on the family fertility becomes smaller in the family with the husband’s higher decisionmaking power.The results show that who has higher family decision-making power also pays more costs in family affairs.If the family has another child,he or she with higher family decision-making power will burden more parenting or financial burdens,which will lead to the positive influence of fertility intention on family fertility becomes smaller.This article further subdivided the decision-making power of the family into the decision-making power of child management and the decision-making power of the family economy,and studied the impact of the decision-making power of child management and investment expenditure on the family fertility.The results show that who bears more burdens of parenting is more likely to have the decisionmaking power of the family’s parenting burden,and the wife is the main bearer of the family’s parenting burden.The impact becomes smaller.At the same time,who bears more financial burdens in the family is more likely to have the decision-making power of family investment expenditures.Who with higher decision-making power on family investment expenditures,the positive impact of the fertility intention on the family fertility becomes smaller.The conclusion of this article shows that policies that encourage husbands and wives to equally bear the burden of raising children will have positive effect on fertility.Women are the main bearers of the burden of parenting,and policy-making departments may consider adopting corresponding measures,such as introducing maternity leave for men,to encourage both spouses to share the burden of daily care and parenting.In terms of economic burden,policies to help women find employment after childbirth can encourage couples to share the economic costs of raising children,and will also have a certain effect on fertility.