Ideals and realities: Chinese singleton daughters negotiating family size preferences and migrant motherhood in Spain

Abstract

ABSTRACT Chinese young women’s fertility choices have attracted growing interest in the last years, however, the effects of women’s singleton status and transnational motherhood experience on their fertility behaviours remain understudied. Using 12 qualitative interviews with Chinese migrant mothers in Spain, we firstly examine how women’s family size preferences are constructed by their singleton status associated with changing gender norms and strong normative expectations of future family caregiving obligations; secondly, we explore the challenges faced by participants towards realizing their fertility expectations in transnational spaces from a gendered perspective. We find that although singleton status can contribute to women’s larger ideal family size, their gendered roles as only-daughters and migrant mothers increase care responsibilities, which negatively influence their childbearing decisions. By situating singleton daughters’ experiences within a broader institutional and sociocultural context, our study offers a unique opportunity to examine how changing gender norms, care, and responsibility structure fertility norms of one generation at the micro level.