The Effect of Work-Family Reconciliation Policies on First-Birth Childbearing Intentions in Poland and Sweden

Abstract: Many countries in Europe have experienced fertility below replacement level for a long period of time. Population ageing and difficulties in sustaining current living standards follow low fertility levels. To be able to increase fertility levels it is necessary to give women and men in Europe opportunities to fulfil their desired life, with or without children. Work-family reconciliation policies can either prevent people from or allow them to combine a career and a family. To what extent these policies have an influence on short-term childbearing intentions in Poland and Sweden is the focus of this study. Using data from the Gender and Generation Survey, the results show that women in Poland are more likely to intend to have a first child within the next three years than are women in Sweden, despite less favourable work-family reconciliation policies, while childless men in Poland are less likely to intend to have a child in the near future than are men in Sweden. It also shows that the attitudes towards parental leave policies have an effect on first childbearing intentions, but that attitudes towards childcare systems play a minor role when intending to become a parent or not in the near future. Common to the work-family reconciliation policies is that the attitudes towards them are contextually embedded.