Becoming a Mother in Hungary and Poland during State Socialism

In this paper, we study the transition to motherhood in the first co-residential union in the dual-earner context of state socialism, namely in Hungary and Poland between the late 1960s and the end of the 1980s. Our analyses are based on data extracted from the Polish and the Hungarian Fertility and...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research 2004-04-01
Series:Demographic Research
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.demographic-research.org/special/3/9/
_version_ 1811274842713882624
collection DOAJ
description In this paper, we study the transition to motherhood in the first co-residential union in the dual-earner context of state socialism, namely in Hungary and Poland between the late 1960s and the end of the 1980s. Our analyses are based on data extracted from the Polish and the Hungarian Fertility and Family Surveys of the early 1990s. We use the hazard regression method as our analytical tool. Our results for Hungary indicate that women's employment does not necessarily reduce the propensity to become a mother if the combination of labor-force participation and family life has been facilitated by policy measures. In Poland however, this was more difficult, and state support was somewhat less generous, thus part-time workers and housewives had substantially higher first-birth intensity than full-time employed women. Even so, we find indication for Poland, that as policy measures increasingly improved the conditions to combine employment and family responsibilities, the propensity to have the first child increased. The timing of first birth varied greatly across educational levels. Highly educated women were more likely to postpone the transition to motherhood, which in turn resulted in their overall lower propensity to have the first child in both countries, but less so in Hungary than in Poland.
first_indexed 2024-04-12T23:27:26Z
format Article
id doaj.art-c88c15f67fd7449d866a0b6966e48ec8
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 1435-9871
language English
last_indexed 2024-04-12T23:27:26Z
publishDate 2004-04-01
publisher Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research
record_format Article
series Demographic Research
spelling doaj.art-c88c15f67fd7449d866a0b6966e48ec82022-12-22T03:12:23ZengMax Planck Institute for Demographic ResearchDemographic Research1435-98712004-04-01Special collection 39Becoming a Mother in Hungary and Poland during State SocialismIn this paper, we study the transition to motherhood in the first co-residential union in the dual-earner context of state socialism, namely in Hungary and Poland between the late 1960s and the end of the 1980s. Our analyses are based on data extracted from the Polish and the Hungarian Fertility and Family Surveys of the early 1990s. We use the hazard regression method as our analytical tool. Our results for Hungary indicate that women's employment does not necessarily reduce the propensity to become a mother if the combination of labor-force participation and family life has been facilitated by policy measures. In Poland however, this was more difficult, and state support was somewhat less generous, thus part-time workers and housewives had substantially higher first-birth intensity than full-time employed women. Even so, we find indication for Poland, that as policy measures increasingly improved the conditions to combine employment and family responsibilities, the propensity to have the first child increased. The timing of first birth varied greatly across educational levels. Highly educated women were more likely to postpone the transition to motherhood, which in turn resulted in their overall lower propensity to have the first child in both countries, but less so in Hungary than in Poland.http://www.demographic-research.org/special/3/9/educationgenderPoland
spellingShingle Becoming a Mother in Hungary and Poland during State Socialism
Demographic Research
education
gender
Poland
title Becoming a Mother in Hungary and Poland during State Socialism
title_full Becoming a Mother in Hungary and Poland during State Socialism
title_fullStr Becoming a Mother in Hungary and Poland during State Socialism
title_full_unstemmed Becoming a Mother in Hungary and Poland during State Socialism
title_short Becoming a Mother in Hungary and Poland during State Socialism
title_sort becoming a mother in hungary and poland during state socialism
topic education
gender
Poland
url http://www.demographic-research.org/special/3/9/