Gender inequality in social institutions and its impact on fertility rates

• Main Author: Tan, Cassandra Gek Hui
• Other Authors: Premchand Varma Dommaraju
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2017
• Subjects: DRNTU::Social sciences
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/70528
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Despite the various measures implemented by the government to encourage childbearing, the fertility rates in Singapore remains well below the replacement level fertility. Multiple studies have attributed the costs of raising children, women delaying marriage and childbearing, as the reasons behind the persistently low fertility rates. However, social theorist, Peter McDonald provides an alternative view on the issue, arguing that low fertility rates are created from gender inequality in social institutions. While research has been done on gender inequality at the workplace or home, few have linked them to the issue of falling fertility rates in Singapore. Thus, this research paper seeks to understand the existing gender inequalities in social institutions and how they affect the fertility rates. The results have shown that women tend to bear a disproportionally larger burden than the men in the society, which in turn, reshaped their values and beliefs on childbearing.