THEMATIC Series Social Sciences Eastern Europe Family Patterns and Demographic Development 2010|01 ISSN 1868-9469 (Print) 1868-9477 (Online) Publisher GESIS Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences, Service Agency Eastern Europe Schiffbauerdamm 19, 10117 Berlin, Germany, Tel.: +49-30-233611-311 e-mail: [email protected]; http://www.gesis.org Editors Schleinstein, N.; Sucker, D.; Wenninger, A.; Wilde, A. Frequency 2 issues per year This publication is financed by GESIS which is jointly funded by the Federal and State governments. © 2009 GESIS. All rights reserved. The reproduction of excerpts is permitted but subject to the condition that the source be mentioned and against specimen copy. 1 CONTENTS EDITORIAL ....................................................................................................................................................................…………….2 CONTRIBUTIONS Beáta Nagy The Paradox of Employment and Fertility: an Introduction......................................................................................................3 Vlada Stankuniene Changing Fertility in Lithuania during the Last Two Decades................................................................................................10 Michaela Potančoková Fertility Trends in Slovakia in the New Millennium................................................................................................................... 18 Alexey Pamporov Family, Marriage and Childbirth Developments in Bulgaria after 1989............................................................................. 26 Dana Hamplová Non-Marital Fertility as a New Form of Social Inequality? Transformation of Czech Families after 1989............................................................................................................................. 35 Alena Křížková, Hana Maříková, Radka Dudová, Zdeněk Sloboda The Conditions of Parenthood in Organisations: An International Comparison ............................................................ 39 Mare Ainsaar, Pirjo Paajanen Resource, Life Stage and Partner-Related Reasons of Postponement of Births: Comparison of Estonia and Finland ............................................................................................................................................... 54 Maria Avdeeva Implementations of the French Family Policy Measures in Russia........................................................................................... Cristina Rat Disciplining Mothers: Fertility Threats and Family Policies in Romania............................................................................ 75 RESEARCH PROJECTS Human Fertility Database Project: Open Access to High-Quality Comparable Data on Fertility................................ 87 Foreign-origin Population: Social Networks in the Context of Second Demographic Transition............................... 88 ANNEX ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….89 Thematic series: Social Sciences Eastern Europe, 2010/01 Family Patterns and Demographic Development 2 EDITORIAL Dear readers, The last years have been characterised by important changes in people's lives and lifestyles and by strong evolutions in society, social structures and values. Eastern Europe has been recognized as a region that has experienced major socio-political and economic changes in the last decades. The impact of these transitions on families and their functioning has also been significant. The societies are witnessing a number of key changes in family structures – postponed parenthood, low fertility, single parenting, increased divorce rates, more births outside marriage etc. This issue of thematic series provides a timely and comprehensive analysis of family issues in Eastern Europe. It brings together scholars from Eastern European countries. The authors explain family processes in particular countries or in a cross-national perspective, focusing on the historic, social and economic contexts and the impact they have on families. Beáta Nagy focuses on how the (female) employment rate and willingness of becoming parents could be increased in welfare states. The article argues for the correlation of the developments on these two areas according to the results of recent researches: high employment rate – high fertility rate; low employment rate – low fertility rate. Vlada Stankuniene gives an overview of the two decade fluctuation of fertility rates in Lithuania in the context of the selected Eastern and Central European countries, which turned to the market economy and democratic society in the beginning of the 1990s, and of the Western countries, where similar changes had taken place earlier, but less dramatically. In terms of future trends of fertility in Slovakia, Michaela Potančoková sees a further increase of the total fertility rate. TFR is expected to rise to about 1,5 – 1,6 children per woman within upcoming 5 years purely due to the recuperation of postponed births. Despite the recuperation, TFR will not recover back to the previous levels of about 2 children per woman. The author indicates that although Slovakia has one of the youngest populations in Europe at the moment, this will change to the one of the fastest ageing ones in the upcoming decade. Alexey Pamporov discusses in his contribution the demographic developments, value shifts and the public policies concerning the family issues in Bulgaria. Dana Hamplová indicates the fact that non-marital fertility has been increasing in Czech Republic in the last decades. This phenomenon is especially significant among lower social classes, which creates an important polarization between relatively well-off and well- educated two-parent families and relatively poor and low-educated mother-headed families. Thus, the author assumes that such polarization will lead to increasing social inequalities within the next generation. The paper by Alena Křížková, Hana Maříková, Radka Dudová and Zdeněk Sloboda focuses on organisations and the conditions for working parents in terms of combining work and care and how those conditions are set up and negotiated in organisations. The research draws on three case studies comparing pairs of companies active in the Czech Republic and in one of the following countries – Germany, France, and Sweden – in the field of engineering. Mare Ainsaar and Pirjo Paajanen analyse three prevailing types of reasons of the postponement of births – resources, life stage, partner-related in Estonia and Finland. Maria Avdeeva compares the efficiency of French and Russian family policy and examines such measures of the French family policy that can be applied in Russia and positively influence the fertility. The paper by Cristina Rat investigates how family policies in post-socialist Romania maintained unfavourable conditions of entitlement for parents with irregular participation on the formal labour market. It argues that the regulations on maternity benefits, childcare leave, and means-tested child allowance targeted primarily the fertility behaviour of women, and failed to meet the quest for “social investment” welfare and support for balancing workplace and domestic duties. Additionally, the publication offers information (including contact information and links to homepages) on universities, research institutions, academic networks and scholarly journals focusing on family research. Editorial team Thematic series: Social Sciences Eastern Europe, 2010/01 Family Patterns and Demographic Development 3 CONTRIBUTIONS Beáta Nagy1 The Paradox of Employment and Fertility: an Introduction2 In recent decades, studies focused on how the (female) employment rate and willingness of becoming parents could be increased in welfare states. This paper outlines the matter of features characterizing the relationship of these two aspects. The main question is which factors influence if employment and fertility rates strengthen or weaken each other. This article argues for the correlation of the developments on these two areas according to the results of recent researches: high employment rate – high fertility rate; low employment rate – low fertility rate. On which part of the scale a society can be found, is influenced by various factors, such as: whether the welfare system supports the expansion of high quality child care institutions for children up to the age of 3; how long it alienates young mothers from the labor market (including even on the level of expectations or norms); and how well-balanced the division of tasks is at home between the partners (e.g. the importance of the active role of fathers). Finally, the study outlines some arguments aiming that the increasing equalization and parallel expansion of female employment can be considered as important factors contributing to economic development and social integration. Two large, long-term challenges face the countries of the European Union: they need to increase their employment rate (one of the goals set by the Lisbon Strategy), and promote and encourage fertility, the willingness to have children. Women are clearly in the focus of both goals: in one case as the main source of labor supply and in the other as adults capable of giving birth to children. In this short paper, we wish to look at how these two areas are related and at how these two exceptionally important areas for society can be harmonized. Many more questions could be raised and it is worth mentioning a few of the issues that have been widely discussed in Hungary in recent