Title: The possible impact of family policy on fertility in France and the United Kingdom
Abstract: France and the United Kingdom have had relatively stable total fertility rates of about 1.8-1.9 since the mid-1970s about 20% higher than in the other countries of Western Europe. The similarity of their overall fertility rates occurs in spite of nonnegligible differences in their rates of marriage and divorce in patterns of family formation and in the adjustment between family life and female employment. In 1989 the rates of 1st marriage per 1000 single persons were among the lowest in Western Europe in both France and the United Kingdom. Female 1st marriage ages were very similar until the mid-1980s but French women now marry at an average age of 25.5 years compared to 23.9 in the United Kingdom. Divorce rates are higher in the United Kingdom at 41/100 marriages than in France (31/100). But remarriage rates are about 52-54% in England vs. around 40% in France. The proportion of the population married is declining in both countries but somewhat more in France. At 20-24 years 28.3% of women in the United Kingdom vs. 20.7% in France are married. Rates of cohabitation outside of marriage or consensual union appear to be higher in France at about 35% of couples aged 25-35 compared to about 25% in the United Kingdom. Apart from Denmark France and the United Kingdom have the highest proportions in Western Europe of births outside marriage 282 and 266/1000 respectively in 1987. The proportion of women remaining childless has been higher in England than in France but the difference is largely compensated for by the greater number of French women who have just 1 child. Women in the United Kingdom begin work at a younger age and have a higher overall activity rate between the ages of 15 and 64 than French women. But between the ages of 25 and 34 67% of English vs. 75% of French women are active. French women show a greater continuity of employment during their child-rearing years than do English women and they are much less likely to hold part-time jobs than English women. English women are more likely to interrupt their employment when they have children or to work part-time. French and English fertility rates both high by European standards occur in different contexts. In France it is likely that collective infrastructures put in place to encourage births and to facilitate reconciliation of womens family and professional lives have supported the relatively high fertility rate. In the United Kingdom individual strategies adopted by couples in the absence of other assistance most frequently imply discontinuation of the womans employment and part-time work. French women are more likely to benefit from paid maternity leave and parental leave and to have access to subsidized day care or child care allowances. The French system of family allowances has explicit natalist objectives whereas the much more limited objectives of the system in the United Kingdom focus on providing assistance to the disadvantaged.
Publication Year: 1992
Publication Date: 1992-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
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Cited By Count: 1
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