Pronatalism and women's equality policies.

Abstract

Since pronatalism and women's equality are terms that cover a broad spectrum of ideas and practices, the article first examines various definitions of pronatalist, pronatal and women's equality policies. The major focus is on policies designed to enhance women's economic equality or independence, and on various forms of state assistance to families with children. A matrix of six sets of specific policies is constructed to determine which broadly conceived pronatal policies are most compatible with policies pursuing women's economic equality and vice versa. The main thesis of the article is that broadly conceived women's equality policies, which address systemic and indirect discrimination, offer a new rationale for policies which in other contexts may be called pronatal. Parental leaves, childcare services, flexible work arrangements, re-entry training programs, and social security and taxation policies that do not penalize women for motherhood have been promoted as measures of equal opportunities for women, but they can be also seen as having a pronatal potential, irrespective of the increase in the birth rate being an explicit objective.