Lifecourse and structural factors in childlessness: the Second Demographic Transition and the incomplete gender revolution

Roderic Beaujot, University of Western Ontario
Zenaida R. Ravanera, University of Western Ontario

This paper considers the impact of lifecourse events (timing and dissolution of unions) and structural factors (labour market flexibility, sharing of unpaid work) on childlessness. Two analyses are undertaken on the basis of women and men aged 30-44 in the 2006 Canadian General Social Survey on Families: comparing persons with and without children, and for those without children, comparing those intending and not intending to have children. With later and less stable unions, the Second Demographic Transition brings greater likelihood that persons at childbearing ages will not be in stable unions. The structure of paid work is important to the extent to which people have children, including the demands of the labour market and of specific occupations, as is the structure of unpaid work, including the extent of sharing of family work.