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ABSTRACT
Governments in low fertility countries tend to tackle low birth rates by addressing macro-level factors rather than the meaning that having a child holds for men and women. Yet whether or not an individual decides to have a child depends in part on what they think having a child will mean for their lives. This study examines the meanings that constitute reasons for wanting a child among a sample of middle-class, married, Hong Kong Chinese women who wanted children. These women were living in Hong Kong when it had one of the lowest total fertility rates in the world and the lowest in its history. Using semi-structured, in-depth interviews, it finds that for these women, to have a child makes one’s family complete; is the next stage of life; provides happiness, fun, and enjoyment; brings care and company in old age; and children are “lovely” and “cute.” Governments concerned about low birth rates can use research on what having a child means for women to improve policy so as to make having a child more attractive, and to create messages that hold greater appeal to women.
Notes
Hong Kong’s Total Fertility Rate dropped below replacement level in 1980 (Yip et al., Citation2006).
In other words, 0.922 is the average number of children that would be born to each woman if she were to live to the end of her childbearing years and bear children at each age in accordance with prevailing age-specific fertility rates (Census and Statistics Department, the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. “The Fertility Trend in Hong Kong, 1981–2009” Table 4, http://www.censtatd.gov.hk/hkstat/sub/sp160.jsp?productCode=FA100090). The total fertility rate for a particular calendar year is defined as the number of births that a woman would have by age 50 if, hypothetically, she lived through her reproductive years experiencing the age-specific fertility rates that prevailed in the population in the particular calendar year (Retherford & Ogawa, Citation2005).
I kept the pregnant women in the sample because I consider that the presence of a child, when one feeds them, cuddles them, sees them smile and laugh for the first time, and so on, brings up many reasons for wanting another child, but I do not believe pregnancy alone has the same effect.
In many cases being interviewed in the presence of the spouse can have a biasing effect. The woman in this couple, however, spoke very freely and willingly; she was expansive. She did not seem at all to be holding back and was not in the least inhibited about expressing her feelings and ideas. She spoke most during the interview; her husband said far less. There may have been biasing effects that I could not detect, but because the woman was so forthcoming, communicative, and spontaneous in her speech, I do not believe she was not saying or altering what she really thought, and for this reason I have not removed her interview from the analysis.
The interviewees are quoted verbatim.
I am grateful to my friend and colleague, Anna S.P. Lo, for kindly sharing this information with me.
Sources: For 1976: Hong Kong By-Census 1976 Basic Tables. Census and Statistics Department, The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. For 2006: 2006 Population By-Census. Summary Results. Census and Statistics Department. The Government of the HK SAR.
It may appear contradictory that the women see children as part of a normal family, which would suggest a conservative society, and yet Hong Kong’s total fertility rate is very low. This may be explained in part by the fact that the interviewees are among those who want and will probably have children. Women who do not want children may not believe that having children brings happiness.
N.B. The total fertility rate depends only in part on the fertility of married women.