Jims Vol10 No1 2016 Pp82 98 Basaraba [621720]

Research Articles
JIMS – Volume 10, number 1, 2016

82

DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGES AND PRO -NATALIST
POLICIES IN THE WELF ARE STATE

Adrian BASARABĂ
Cristina MATIU ȚA

Abstract : The demographic changes of the contemporary world towards
(alarmingly) lower rates of both fertility and mortality represent a key feature of the
European countries. One of the most fascinating manners of approaching natality rates is
represented by the st atistic mechanisms of their predictability. The extent of such process is
also a determinant of the political agenda and of designing pro -natalist strategies that can
positively contribute to regulating the demographic transition. Therefore, we have
consid ered analyzing the evolution of pro -natalist policies from more interpretative
frameworks – demographic, politological, economic and statistic – as instrumentally useful.
A first analysis of the theoretical framework underlines the relevance of the
triparti te polarization of elements that, according to Bloom, form the “virtuous spiral” of
the political agenda’s functionality: public sector – civil society – private sector. The second
theoretical approach sketches an explanatory foray referring to the dominant perspective of
the research conducted by Easterlin and Becker concerning the relevance of the “social
group” in regulating fertility levels and, in the second case, of valuing “child utility” in
various economic contexts. Furthermore, the approaches of Lew is, Bartky and Morgan
reconstruct the frameworks of patriarchal domination of the nineteenth and the first half of
the twentieth century and of the social roles’ metamorphosis of family members in the
context of industrialization and urbanization. The last subchapter of this article uses the
socio -economic positioning so as to present “the pivotal role of women”, as well as the
importance of the incentives concerning the changing of the partners’ reproductive
behaviour.

Keywords: demographic changes, ferti lity, gender, pro -natalist policies, welfare state

1. The theoretical context and the demographic relevance of fertility in
the political agenda
Conducting studies whose analytical themes are primarily concerned with
the interpretation of statistical data about the evolution of the population is more
than significant. However, special attention should be given to defining the
demographical transiti ons which have occurred in recent years. The selective nature
of statistical data reorients contextual attention towards levels of progressive
evolution of fertility and mortality indicators. This fact is proving to be essentially
stringent when it comes t o understanding the underlying, and thus causal
mechanisms which address the current trend in studied statistical populations. From
a primarily politological stand point, the demographic analysis of afore -mentioned
indicators is dependent on the fluctuatio n of institutional regulations or on

Demographic Changes and Pro -Natalist Policies in the Welfare State
JIMS – Volume 10, number 1, 2016

83 demographic planning programmes encountered in state political agendas. As a
consequence, the context of the discussion regarding the assisting initiatives of the
wellfare state is interchangeable with the context of th e discussion annexing the
interest awarded directily to the qualitative analysis of fertility rate evolution, and
the larger context of the demographic phenomenon of natality.
As previously mentioned, the interpretation of contextually apparent
statistica l data is performed primarily within politological and demographic
parameters. From the first point of view, the multiplicity of factors which are
cumulative to the larger majority of mechanisms which affect the societal
developmental level is generally se en as being undeniable. The simple fact of listing
the factors which interest and affect the statistical rate of birth on both micro and
macro levels (especially the crude rate of natality) refers to: the economic evolution
of per capita annual income, the fluctuation of the employment market
permeability, the rate of equal access to various functions of the occupational
segments, individual education and reproductive behavior, and quality of life as part
of measurements regarding average life expectancy. I n short, it is abundantly
obvious that, regardless of the interest stand point, state governement intervention
can be concrete, and can thus expedite assistance programmes regarding such a
thematic orientation.
Above all, the consistency in phrasing probl ems on the political agenda
stems from the pragmatism of associated programmes. In other words, social
assistance and, more concretely, the family welfare programmes urge applicable
solutions to the problems in current political agendas. One example comes to mind
in support of this, occurring during post -war Britain, in which the debate
concerning the dual role of the woman (career woman and mother) represented not
only a delicate subject, but also one of the most extreme forms of feminist lobbying
in the a ge. In Buttafuoco 's1 words , such "initiatives, especially by employed women
(…) were a way of political action: feminist associations were putting into practice
forms of assistance which originated in their own way of thinking" regarding the
intrinsic si gnificance of maternity faced with the ability to perform work in order to
provide sustenance for the family and for oneself. Although such events can easily
be linked to poignant ideological contexts of the referenced period, the issue of
"maternity" is n ow militant in regards to the political agenda to continuously
reevaluate the social value and the performed function of maternity2.
Provisioning minimal qualitative and quantitative standards in regard to the
target population – the family, mothers, child ren or any other segment of the

1 Annarita Buttafuoco, „Motherhood as a political strategy: the role of the Italian women’s
movement in the creation of the Cassa Nazionale di Maternita ” in Gisela Bock and Pat
Thane (eds.), Maternity & Gender Policies: Women and the Rise of the European Welfare
States 1880s -1950s , Routledge, London and New York, 1991, p. 181
2 Jane Lewis, „Models of equality for women: the c ase of state support for children in
twentieth -century Britain” in Gisela Bock and Pat Thane (eds.), Maternity & Gender
Policies: Women and the Rise of the European Welfare States 1880s -1950s , Routledge,
London & New York, 1991, p. 82

Adrian BASARABĂ , Cristina MATIU ȚA
JIMS – Volume 10, number 1, 2016

84 population thought of as disadvantaged from a social, economic, political or any
other stand point – is dependent on their correct aggregation, more so since the
pressure exerted by lobbying groups does not appear to be cent ralized. In this case,
determining maximal and minimal limits of these "stardards" mostly regards the
analysis of demographic fertility evolution trends and, even more importantly, the
intrinsic determinant phenomenology. Thus, the role played by the human capital is
anything but negligible3 when it comes to the particular or general interpretation of
the phenomenology of current demographic tranzitions. From this point of view, the
standards which power the validity of social programmes (policies) can be v erified
in contrast with the minimal content of this "human capital" element, namely: the
degree of flexibility of the employment market and average life expectancy by age
groups4. Based on this, it is necessary to state that, in the case of policies aimin g to
encourage fertility, such measurements take into account the position of the woman,
whereas the man is thought of as a rather "uninteresting entity in the demographic
analisys of reproduction within a population"5. This fact is relatively easy to
explain, taking into account that the position and social status of the man have been
historically subject to a mostly static trajectory, fixed both from an economic and
from a reproductive perspective. As a consequence, the recently acquired flexibility
of th e role of the woman in the employment market and in everyday social life, in
the context of the decay of the patriarchy, has stirred a massive wave of ideological
reprograming. Thus, the initiatives for the emancipation of women's positions have
had an ind isputable contribution to the rearrangement of govermental priorities and
to the redefinement of equal participation social standpoints within a family
context. Further along this path, pregnancy and the maternal role have been
qualitatively defined as "so cial functions"6 of the woman, with initiatives requiring
the attention of political agendas.
Up to this point, it is obvious that the encouragement and the education
regarding reproductive behavior has a qualitative demographic contribution at the
level of the total population annexed to a given territorial unit. However, the degree
to which this contribution can be determined to be positive or not is correlated to
the short, medium and long -term visible effects of the modification of social
structures (b ased on age, sex and occupation). Easterlin's7 remark offers a first
analytical vector in this sense: "The effect of generational size will take different

3 David E. Bloom, Dav id Canning, Jaypee Sevilla, The Demographic Dividend: A New
Perspective on the Economic Consequences of Population Change , RAND, Santa Monica
California, 2003, p. 29
4 Ibid.
5 Traian Rotariu, Demografie și sociologia populației: fenomene demografice (Demog raphy
and sociology of population: demographic phenomena) , Editura Polirom, Iași, 2003, p. 244
6 Jane Lewis, „Models of equality for women: the case of state support for children in
twentieth -century Britain” in Gisela Bock and Pat Thane (eds.), Maternity & Gender
Policies: Women and the Rise of the European Welfare States 1880s -1950s , Routledge,
London and New York, 1991, p.79
7 Richard A. Easterlin, Birth and Fortune. The Impact of Numbers on Personal Welfare ,
University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1987, p . 27

Demographic Changes and Pro -Natalist Policies in the Welfare State
JIMS – Volume 10, number 1, 2016

85 forms in different media, due to the national differences existing in the regulation of
the employmen t market and other institutions." In the same context, a series of
interpretive hypoteses can be annexed, again, with particular differences, but based
on a multiple analysis of state collectivist practices and measures for the
fructification of equal oppo rtunity8. Not less important is the principle of allotting
resources based on the afore -mentioned practices. As an ilustrative example, the
controversies regarding the managent of allotting state assistance resources during
post-war Britain regard the sele ction of women who may have benefitted from
maternal leave, and the afferent remuneration received during the leave of absence
from the workplace. In a correlative analisys of the British social policy trend in
relation to the permeability of the employmen t market, O’Connor, Orloff and
Shaver highlight the existence of stringent and restrictive eligibility criteria for the
allottment of maternal leave, dependent on the place of employment9. In other
words, the rules of aristocracy are still functional in a contemporary context, being
encountered primarily within the occupational sphere of public servants and
corporate employees.
Regardless of the theme which these assistance programmes approach, the
idea of individual and collective valuation of demographic subjects remains valid.
From this point of view, the demographic relevance of fertility as encountered on
the governmental political agendas acquires not only great amplitude, but is also
inbued with the value of undiscriminating objectivity. Still, the id ea itself remains
open to discussion, insofar as the universal application principle of programmes
designed to favor population segments between 18 and 45 years of age (considered
fertile periods in the human reproductive cycle) also regard eligibility by legally
fining other institution, organizations or industrial conglomerates involved in such
actions. The legal span is truly collossal, if regarded according to Reich 's
suggestion10, namely on a tri -polar line extending over the public sector, the civil
society and the private sector. However, beyond the numerous such possible
combinations regarding the success of collaborative methods and the
encouragement of governmentally guided programs, Bloom11 stresses the idea of
so-called " virtuous spirals ". The alte rnative highlights the importance of public,
private or mixed agencies, whose context of action regards the areas of health and
education, these ultimately being fundamental to pro -natality and fertility’
encouraging policies. Thus, insofar as the above me ntioned agencies work together

8 Fred C. Pampel , Institutional Context of Population Change: Patterns of Fertility and
Mortality Across High -Income Nations (Population and Development Series) , University
of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2001, pp. 59 -61
9 Julia S. O'Connor, Ann Shola Orlo ff, Sheila Shaver , States, markets, families: Gender,
liberalism and social policy in Australia, Canada, Great Britain and the United States ,
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1999, p. 88
10 Michael R. Reich, Public -Private Partnership for Public Healt h in “Nature Medicine”,
vol. 6, no. 6/2000, p. 618
11 David E. Bloom, David Canning, Jaypee Sevilla, The Demographic Dividend: A New
Perspective on the Economic Consequences of Population Change , RAND, Santa Monica
California, 2003 , p. 71

Adrian BASARABĂ , Cristina MATIU ȚA
JIMS – Volume 10, number 1, 2016

86 through the mediation of a constant informational flow, they essentially produce a
cycle in which effect is always followed by counter -effect, or in other words, they
are always in a position to consider further development s temming from their
initiatives. Following this reasoning, Bloom 's " spiral " acquires notes of
"virtuousness" attributed to agencies which contribute to the practical realization of
initiatives within an agenda.
The implementation success of agenda programs is, as we've seen, tightly
constrained by the degree of participation of public institutions, but also of private
agencies which generate visibility and offer pertinence to the governmental
initiatives. It goes without saying that there is no guarantee of success, but the risks
can be mitigated by appealing to the criterion of conditional participation. When it
comes to the initiatives favoring fertility rates, they are mainly aimed at the family
environment. As a consequence of this, their success rate is dependent on the
implication of the consent of the parties, namely the legislators and the target
population. In accordance with Lesthaeghe's12 suggestion, in the context of a post –
materialist age, in which the centralization of children is minimized, consensus and
the promise of accessible and reasonable health services13 are a good starting point
for creating policies which are both pragmatic and aware of their application
environment. Bloom14 contextually adds to the idea of policy functionality by
imposing the promise of "welfare" as given by the emancipation of health services,
which should regard: special medical care for children under the age of 3, providing
women with easy access to fert ility clinics and stressing the educational coordinates
regarding self -care. Contextually, the policies of encouragement of demographic
processes regarding the rate of population growth must show democratic resource
management via financial distribution am ongst the participating institutions and
agencies. Following this trail of thought, the utility of assistance policies is
materialized by the ideas of visibility, ease of access and ease of use within the
target population.
There are two implicit elements to take into account when formulating
agenda issues: persuasion and consensus. These are, without a doubt, subsumed to
the larger domain of pro -natality policies and are universally applicable to their
subjects. However, as the domain of action of pro -natality policies is part of the
wider area of social -assistance policies, the indirect forms of materialization for
consensus must also regard, amongst other things, covering the costs of maternal
leave, allotting family housing through national distribution systems for such
buildings, allotting food subsidies, the democratic distribution of child -care
subsidies and establishing a realistic quota in relation to per capita and per family

12 Ron Lesthaeghe, „The second demographic transition in Western countries: An
interpretation” in Karen Oppenheim Mason and An -Magritt Jensen (eds.), Gender and
Family Change in Industrialized Countries (International Studies in Demography) ,
Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1995, p. 37
13 David E. Bloom, David Canning, Jaypee Sevilla, The Demographic Dividend: A New
Perspective on the Economic Consequences of Population Change , RAND, Santa Monica
California, 2003 , p. 71
14 Ibid.

Demographic Changes and Pro -Natalist Policies in the Welfare State
JIMS – Volume 10, number 1, 2016

87 income15. These problems are the subject of family welfare policies and indirectly
engage the importance of domains connected to the social -demographic sphere,
such as the economic -financial and the socio -biological (in cases which regard
detailed analyses and medical studies on the causes of impotence, genetic mutations
and othe r phenomena which are auxiliary to reproduction). Summarizing, the
impact of pro -natality policies on fertility can be measured by appealing to the
modifications brought upon the employment domain (the work schedule becoming
more flexible), the medical -assistance domain, the family domain (family planning
programs), the social -assistance domain (facilitating couples' access to services and
products regarding child care). In short, in the sense corroborated by Gauthier,
Hatzius16 and Walker17 respectively, the public benefits for family welfare are
meant wither to reduce the cost of child care, or to increase the income of child
rearing couples.

2. The contribution of statistic indicators to the analysis of the natality
phenomenon
Statistical interpretation of data regarding the demographic trend of natality is
one of the cardinal aspects contributing to the formulation of pertinent assistance
programs. The modality of linking statistical data with social stimulants of the daily
routine of statistical subjects is a cardinal determinative of the interpretation being
performed. In the same context of processing family assistance policies, the
phenomenology of natality must be understood on the basis of reproductive behavior
analysis in the target population, which is in turn determined by the real manifestation
of fecundity taking the socially agreeable form of fertility. Each of the afore
mentioned concepts – natality, reproductive behavior, fecundity and fertility –
contribute to the consolidation of the demographic trend within a set time scale.
Insofar as the demographic phenomenon of natality is understood as a
parameter resulting from reporting live newborns per thousand inhabitants, within a
set time period, and indicating the fre quency of births within a given population18,
understanding the concept of fertility becomes a complementary routine to the
phenomenon of natality. Given the definition of natality, it is understood that the
phenomenon itself is not self -regulating as much as it is determined by the
convergence of quintessentially social factors, both on a macro level (norms, values
and traditional behaviors) and on a micro level (conscious actions by individuals

15 Fred C. Pampel , Population and Development : Institutional Context of Population
Change: Patterns of Fertility and Mortality Across High -Income Nations (Population and
Development Series) , University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2001, p. 64
16 Anne Hélène Gauthier & Jan Hatzius , Family Benefits and Fert ility: An Econometric
Analysis in „Population Studies: A Journal of Demography”, Volume 51, Issue 3/1997, pp.
295-306
17 James R. Walker, The Effect of Public Policies on Recent Swedish Fertility Behavior in
„Journal of Population Economics”, vol. 8 (3), Au gust/1995, pp. 223 -251
18 Traian Rotariu, Demografie și sociologia populației: fenomene demografice
(Demography and sociology of population: demographic phenomena) , Editura Polirom,
Iași, 2003, p. 248

Adrian BASARABĂ , Cristina MATIU ȚA
JIMS – Volume 10, number 1, 2016

88 which regulate and manifest their own fertility )19. As a conseq uence, the rate of
fertility becomes the primary statistical indicator when it comes to formulating
assistance programs in this case.
Regarding the statistical indicator of fertility , the study performed by
Richard Easterlin is one of the most relevant, bo th from a theoretical and from an
empirical stand point, insofar as it aggregates the dimension of the "cohort" or the
"social group" as being the value acting like a yardstick for the fluctuations in
fertility, allowing them to be reported and understood as such. Above all, "the social
group" can be perceived as the total population registered to a certain territory at the
time of the analysis. The degree in which this total evolves – grows, decreases or
stagnates – strictly associated to the fluctuations in natality affects the couples'
decisions regarding the exploitation of their potential fertility20. The theoretical
paradigm in question is decisive to the same degree as in Fred Pampel's
explanations: couples take decisions regarding the exploitation of fertility based on
the calculation of monthly potential income, compared to the standard of living
which they understand to be closest to their own perception of welfare21. Defining
this "standard of living" within the discussion is derived from their own e xperience
in terms of economic socialization during childhood, and the style of life the adults
have become habituated with, in the time since. It is evident that, in their desire to
propagate the value of this "standard" throughout generations, couples ar e a definite
contribution to the self -regulation of their fertility, either in a positive sense (if they
can maintain the same values of the standard) or in a negative sense (if the
probability of maintaining the standard is too low). These are the foundat ions from
which we can derive the logical inference according to which the quantitative
growth of the "social group" affects the fertile potential of couples by overstressing
the state's economy and thus the (limited) employment market.
The argument of "t he cohort" is thus decisive to the method of calculation
and decision regarding the real manifestation of fertility. It is interesting to observe
the demonstrable fact that there is a directly proportional link between the
quantitative growth of the social group and the probability of "social contagion" or
propagation of loyalty transfer from one extreme to the other. Often times,
statistical empiricism has intervened via this fact, in order to prove the permeability
of the practical ethos of one social sta te or another, or, alternatively, of the unitary
population of one state or another. Ermisch's22 empirical arguments have proven
how Easterlin's theory regarding the rational calculation of fertility based on the
"cohort" parameter has a strictly contextual validity. One of the most powerful
hypotheses shows that the impact of population growth can be mitigated either

19 Ibid.
20 Richard A. Easterlin, Birth and Fortune. The I mpact of Numbers on Personal Welfare ,
University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1987, p. 34
21 Fred C. Pampel , Population and Development : Institutional Context of Population
Change: Patterns of Fertility and Mortality Across High -Income Nations (Population and
Development Series) , University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2001, p. 55
22 John F. Ermisch, Time costs, aspirations and the effect of economic growth on German
fertility in „Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics”, no. 42/1980, p.139

Demographic Changes and Pro -Natalist Policies in the Welfare State
JIMS – Volume 10, number 1, 2016

89 based on an ideological -value background (within a consolidated belief system),
either by denying demographic and/or economic determinism of f ertility rates.
Thus, the direct proportion between the size of the social group and the relative
inertia of the reproductive behavior cannot be universalized, and can only be
applied on a case to case basis. Furthermore, this fact is conditioned by instit utional
structures and the regulation of their activity23 in regard to the scope of a simple
equation of market supply and demand.
From a realistic point of view, this time derived from a neo -classical
economic orientation, Becker24 reconsiders the reproductive inertia or activity in
relation to the economic factor of "child utility". In another trail of thought, the
decision to exploit fertility is comparable to the utility such an act could
consequently bring to the couple's welfar e; to the measure in which investing in the
rearing of a child (financial costs, time parents sacrifice to its education) can exceed
the cost of the initial decision25. On the other hand, the relevance of the "utility"
calculation can also be regarded from a cardinally opposed perspective to the first.
An illustrative example comes from the "personal relation deregulation"26 and thus
of the reformulation of the traditional constancy of marriage in the light of the
Family Reform Legislative Act in Great Britai n (1969), approving the legality of
marriage annulment in cases which are considered irreparable. The family model is
inevitably distorted, once such an institutional regulation occurs. Given the
characteristics of this last aspect, on the one hand, the fa mily tradition is subject to
the new opportunities for self -realization, and on the other hand, the circumstances
of non -marital fertility tend to evoke a new orientation of reproductive preferences.
Beyond all empirically verifiable arguments, Lesthaeghe 's27 hypotheses
come to confirm the foundations of reproductive behavior in the second half of the
20th Century, in large European metropolises (highly urbanized as an effect of
industrialization). Overall, the new quasi -consensus of the common law promotes
the values of individualism (economic autonomy under the growing empire of
market opportunity), antagonistic non -conformity to traditional social models of
numerous families, and post -materialism, favorable to reevaluating consumerism
and to a wider explo itation of the employment market (careerism). Such personal
life management, guided by a new, contemporary ideology, regards, amongst other
things, the accommodation of equal participation for both sexes in the employment

23 Fred C. Pampe l, Population and Development : Institutional Context of Population
Change : Patterns of Fertility and Mortality Across High -Income Nations (Population and
Development Series) , University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2001, p. 59
24 Ibid., p. 57
25 Ibid.
26 Howard Glennerster , British Social Policy since 1945 , Blackwell Publishers, Malden,
USA, 2000, p. 147
27 Ron Lesthaeghe, „The second demographic transition in Western countries: An
interpretation” in Karen Oppenheim Mason and An -Magritt Jensen (eds.), Gend er and
Family Change in Industrialized Countries (International Studies in Demography) ,
Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1995, p. 46

Adrian BASARABĂ , Cristina MATIU ȚA
JIMS – Volume 10, number 1, 2016

90 market. Oppenheimer28 himself recon siders the variability of social roles, a widely
characterizing aspect of urbanized societies in the 1960s and 1970s. Moreover, his
position tends to confirm the applicability of the "cohort" principles stated by
Easterlin (see above). In other words, "as long as the participation of the spouses in
the employment market is limited"29, the reproductive potential of the couple is
materialized all the more. Furthering this trail of thought, Pampel30 highlights the
fact that women's lack of participation in the e mployment market represents a
compensating measure in regard to an overly crowded employment market, and
thus promotes a much lower income per family.
On the other hand, theorizing in contrast to Easterlin's predictions, insofar
as the market economy mecha nisms are self -regulating to a varying degree, the
effect its numeric overstrain will collapse under its own weight, thus allowing
women to reorient themselves towards revaluing their own fertility31. Through the
lens of the statistical pressure of indicato rs such as rate of employment and rate of
fertility, the statistical curve known as the "U -Shape" is revealed. In this context,
the plausibility of institutional regulation of reproductive choice mechanisms can be
tested, along with the variability of East erlin's theory regarding the influence of the
size of the social group. However, regardless of the situation being analyzed, the
second half of the 20th Century is characterized by a strong deregulation of common
law norms and a new ideology of "infertilit y", as far as the statistical indicator of
fertility is concerned.
Inevitably, the demographic transition towards an aging population is
certain, under the influence of distribution numbers calculated on the basis of
fertility rates taken by age group, wit h a maximum distribution focused on the 15 –
24 age group32. It is the Malthusian option itself, promoting an "inevitable natural
law", from which populations can emancipate themselves by correctly assessing
their own welfare in relation to the sustainable po tential of their family hearth33.
Even though it doesn't promote contraceptive methods for the regulation of
reproductive behavior (due to relatively constricting religious choices),34 the version
of reproductive choice is present in this case as well. Based on the above
discussion, the contemporary reproductive choice tends to materialize in ages
which, inevitably, cannot control their choice from a qualitative perspective. Thus,
the primacy of the economy tends to reorganize the age and financial welfare

28 Fred C. Pampel , Institutional Context of Population Change: Patterns of Fertility and
Mortality Across High -Income Nation s (Population and Development Series) , University
of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2001 , p. 61
29 Ibid.
30 Ibid.
31 Ibid., p. 70
32 Ibid., p. 3
33 David E. Bloom, David Canning, Jaypee Sevilla, The Demographic Dividend: A New
Perspective on the Economic Consequences of Population Change , RAND, Santa Monica
California, 2003 , p. 3
34 Joseph A. Banks, Secularism and the Size of Families , Routledge & Kegan Paul, London,
1981, p. 19

Demographic Changes and Pro -Natalist Policies in the Welfare State
JIMS – Volume 10, number 1, 2016

91 conditions under which fertility can be approached on the basis of unrestricted
judgment and rational, practical and justifiable behavior, as George Holyoake35 had
suggested.

3. Social position of woman and “sphere separation” ideology in
construction of wel fare state
Regarding the problem of liberalization of public agenda, the contribution
of lobby activist groups was and still is a major compound of the democratic
process of pluralist position formulation. The very same idea has been taken under
the larger frame of feminist interests in manifestation of the concept that the state
should offer a bigger attention to the role of women in society. The ideological
feminist avant -garde has been manifested in larger pithiness beginning with the
XXth Century, mainl y in Western highly developed countries. Along with the
metamorphosis of the occupational spectrum, the urbanization process created new
opportunities and new perspective for women, who have been up until then,
financial dependent to the family patriarch – head of the family. In other words, the
pivotal frame of the family needed to be readjusted to newer conditions of the XXth
Century. In this regard, the archetype of family legislation, mainly in Great Britain,
progressively took distance from the trap of a monotonous approach. Regarding this
aspect, Jane Lewis36 distinguished two main specific features: the legislation treated
adult women from a dependent position towards their husbands and, secondly, the
legislation characterized their social path as bein g strictly defined in accordance
with the double role of wife and mother. In this context of dual function of the
woman, the delimitation of public and private frames – where public represents the
commitment of the patriarch on the labor market and his fin ancial contribution and
private means the generations of family values and the dependence towards the
patriarch – retained the omnipresent value of the patriarch, which was distinctive
for the emergent societies, precedent to secularism.
The historical evolution of woman, imposes a major change of direction as
far as that goes to reproductive fertility numbers and, later on, to the degree of
concentration of the population in different, specific areas of earth globe – the density
of the pop ulation on the globe. The steadiness of these kinds of reproductive forms,
actually strongly covered by laws under contraceptive factors, can be found mainly in
states in which the industrialization rate has determined the evolution of standard of
living a nd, therefore the per capita economic situation. This is a demonstrable thing
regarding the statistic situation of total distribution of population on regions that have
the economic development ratio as the main factor of population density. On the path
of the same logical argument, empirically demonstrable on the ground of Easterling’s
cohort theory , it is not surprising that the highly developed regions of the world

35 Ibid., p. 22
36 Jane Lewis, „Models of equality for women: the case of state support for ch ildren in
twentieth -century Britain” in Gisela Bock and Pat Thane (eds.), Maternity & Gender
Policies: Women and the Rise of the European Welfare States 1880s -1950s , Routledge,
London & New York, 1991, p. 77

Adrian BASARABĂ , Cristina MATIU ȚA
JIMS – Volume 10, number 1, 2016

92 (mainly Central -Western Europe) have a relatively minimal percent – of 19,5% – of
the tota l global population of the world in 200137.
Regardless the direction of the debates, more or less ideologically marked,
there is a certainty of a demographic transition. In this background, stronger in the
XXIst Century, the theoretical problem of the role of the woman in society stays in a
central point and is more difficult to approach in terms of political agenda. The
relevance of this position is grounded on a new formula of the “sphere separation”38
ideology. The opposition with one of the most relevant explanations of feminist
orientation regarding the alienation of the role of the woman in society is prevalent.
Embracing a generous conceptual rank which comes from foucaltian theories,
Bartky39 says that the alienating impairment of the woman and her obj ectification
are parts of a larger project, that of “oppression of the woman” conditioned by the
hegemonic patriarch. The pithiness of “power dividend”40, as it was presented in
Bartky’s study, can be integrated as a statistical measurement of distribution more
or less uniform of the sexes on the labor market. The applied research of Platt41
statistically shows how, in 2009, in Great Britain labor market context the pay gap
between female gender employees and male gender employees has reached an
average rate of 12%. Under these circumstances, the conclusions touch two central
problems which are interesting in the context of fertility evolution conditioned by
per capita income: firstly, the assumption that the influence of the patriarch
attenuates the complete professional possibilities of the woman becomes valid and
secondly, the strive for equal rights reduces in a significant way the attentions
towards maximizing fertility chances.
Despite the importance of the individual or family profit, Helen
Bosanquet42 stresses the role of the woman as comparable with the man’s through
the fact that the image of the marriage institution is functional due to the sacrifice of
the woman for the welfare of the members of the family. The importance of the
home is therefore h igher than the importance of the wage income, given the fact
that a diligent wife’s manner to maintain the household is crucial and can determine
the transfer of the comfort in favor of a working husband who has a smaller wage
income than others43. Althoug h these kinds of assumptions have been made at the

37 Ibid., p. 3
38 Ibid., p. 75
39 Sandra Lee Bartky , Femininity and Domination: Studies in the Phenomenology of
Oppression , Routledge, London, 1990, p. 56
40 Sylvia Walby, Theorizing Patriarchy , Basil Blackwell, Oxford, 1990, p. 74
41 Lucinda Platt, Understanding Inequalities: Stratification & Difference , Po lity,
Cambridge, 2011, p. 53
42 Helen Bosanquet, The Family , Macmillan, London, 1906, apud Jane Lewis, „Models of
equality for women: the case of state support for children in twentieth -century Britain” in
Gisela Bock and Pat Thane (eds.), Maternity & Gende r Policies: Women and the Rise of
the European Welfare States 1880s -1950s , Routledge, London & New York, 1991, p. 76
43 43 Jane Lewis, „Models of equality for women: the case of state support for children in
twentieth -century Britain” in Gisela Bock and Pat Thane (eds.), Maternity & Gender

Demographic Changes and Pro -Natalist Policies in the Welfare State
JIMS – Volume 10, number 1, 2016

93 beginning of the XXth Century, their importance is still noticeable as decisive for
quality evolution of the present homes but much more rare in this regard. The
reasons underlying deregulations of the mar riage institution and the relation of its
members, can be reported to causes belonging to the XXIst Century: the necessity of
financial independence of the woman, the influence of governmental taxes on the
family, which are leading to the depersonalization of the family home.
As a result of extrapolation of the significance of the genres and the
separation of their role under the stigma of feminine emancipation, the fertility
paradigm decreases in importance. Despite all these, as Morgan44 says, on the
subst ance of depersonalization of the family frame, the “idea of dependence” from
the patriarch has been progressively transferred to the idea of “dependence” from
the welfare state. In these circumstances, the family welfare policies follow a
subject agenda sl owed by the current order of disintegration of mutual (financial)
interdependence between the partners of a reproductive circle. Inevitably, these
kind of personal choices impose major pressures on state economic planning, even
more as in the process of su staining both sexes, the state has to open the spectrum
of occupational recruitment. Alternatively, the family policies have to financially
support family planning programs which can strengthen the fertility ranks, when the
demand for child care services e volve as well (nurseries, kindergartens,
playschools). To the extent that the principle of demand -offer ensures the well –
functioning of welfare programs (financially supported by the state) there is a
problem axiom: “any help redirected to the families has to be financed by the
families themselves”.45 This thing can be done through the taxes system, applied per
capita and dependent from individual or household income.
On this premise, it becomes very clear that, regardless from the target
population for the welfare financial programs, the state itself has to adopt the
position from which it has to create a minimal wage guaranteed for any employee.
Figuratively speaking, this “safety net” in Beveridge46 terms, gives priorities to
administrative capacities of th e state for avoiding marginalization and poverty.
Therefore, the assistance programs of the welfare state intend to effectively
contribute to general welfare and positive amelioration of fertility. On this line, the
masculine and feminine positions are rat her aggregate to the same state interest
through which “the utility of the child” is a sufficient prove of its up keeping from
the couple and reasonable enough for the state in order to improve economic and
demographic capacities.

Policies: Women and the Rise of the European Welfare States 1880s -1950s , Routledge,
Lond on & New York, 1991, p. 76
44 Patricia M. Morgan, Farewell to the Family? Public Policy and Family Breakdown in
Britain and the USA , 2nd ed., Institute of Economic Affairs (Great Britain). Health and
Welfare Unit, London, 1999, p. 22
45 Ibid., p. 35
46 Howard Glennerster , British Social Policy since 1945 , Blackwell Publishers, Malden,
USA, 2000, p. 37

Adrian BASARABĂ , Cristina MATIU ȚA
JIMS – Volume 10, number 1, 2016

94 4. Reproductive choice and the new family frame dynamic
Put on the background of an increasing interest towards favoring policies
for family welfare, the fertility seems to be a maximal opportunity of its chosen
time or a failure in term of non -fecundity. While the first option is nevertheless the
preferable one, the second draws attention to the eventuality of a ”fertility crises”.47
The demographically approach of XXIst Century is the wave of
demographic transitions predominated by a stable standard of fertility regress. The
predictions regarding the demographic continuity of numerical evolution of overall
population are made on parallel line. Shortly, from the neo -malthusian view, the
relatively stable decrease of fertility ranks does not represent a somber prediction
for the d emographic future of overall population. The motivation argument is more
plausible as we hold in regard the case studies of industrial and post -industrial
societies of which evolution is specifically distinctive from that of the third world’s
evolution. O f all things, the reproductive choice is regarded as predisposed to
changes to the extent that “public policies and institutional responses can assist
women in obtaining intentional fertility, easing the combined tasks of parental,
work and participating i n other activities”,48 as well as encouraging to becoming
pregnant at younger age on practical grounds.
As Esping -Andersen49 highlights, institutional adjustments of the political
welfare initiatives, represent a crucial moment in representation of the co ntinuum of
the fertility digits. To avoid the over -dramatizing of seeing fertility as a
reproduction choice in the XXIst Century, Morgan50 introduces in his study several
circumstantially statistical data on two time segments: the 1960 and the 1990. He
represents in this way the statistic sign for TFR “Total Fertility Rate” which is
relevant for 22 member states of the Organization for Economic Development and
Cooperation (OEDC). The basic intention of the study was to demonstrate that there
is a correlation between the variables fertility and participation of women in the
labor market, correlation which is proven under the conditions of the study. The
numerical differences (notable major differences) between the two mentioned time
periods regarding the evolu tion of the variable called fertility are conclusive at least
in one regard: exploitation of fertility as a problem of individual choice is favored
on the grounds of policy formulation area. In this context, the demography as a
science has an important par t in managing the previsions related to certain national
and overall interesting phenomena as natality.
The causes concerning low fertility ranks cannot be restrained to the level
of public policies context, as they are mostly a response to the existing in dividual
preferences. Beyond the break of post -industrial states from the old model of

47 Philip S. Morgan , Is low fertility a twenty -first century demographic crisis? in
“Demography”, Vol. 40, No.4/2003, p. 591
48 Wolfgang Lutz, Brian C. O’Neill, Sergei Scherbov, Europe’s Population at a Turning
Point , in „Science”, vol. 299, no. 5615/2003, p. 1991
49 Gosta Esping -Andersen, Social Foundations of Postindustrial Economies , Oxford
University Press, New York, 1999, p. 2 43
50 Philip S. Morgan , Is low fertility a twenty -first century demographic crisis? in
“Demography”, Vol. 40, No.4/2003, p. 596

Demographic Changes and Pro -Natalist Policies in the Welfare State
JIMS – Volume 10, number 1, 2016

95 traditional society51 and promoted family model, the present family structure can be
a reply addressed to the self -construction. Numerically speaking, the small family
structure, with an average of two children, can be considered as satisfactory and
feasible in terms of economic, educational and other kind of demands of the XXIst
Century. In order to clarify this aspect, Morgan52 attaches a motivation to every
child in orde r of their appearance. The motivations are spiritual, emotional or, on
the contrary, material. More precisely, if the parents tend to attach to the first child
of the family an affective dimension as a priority, the appearance of the second
child can be gr ounded on totally distinctive reasoning which care about the sexual
composition of the family and /or on “family construction”, meaning the numeric
expansion of the family. In the event of the third child in a family, the author says
the reasoning is diffe rent, mainly based on social -economic arguments, or such as
the economic potential of the family, the necessity of sex balancing within the
family, the maximization of the fertile period of the couple. Regardless to the
arguments that shape the personal op tion of the couple, Hrdy53 thinks that the
emotional -maternal attachment is conditionally, alternative and additional to all the
above list of arguments.
In more specific terms, during the modernization process of the industrial
societies, the biological pr edispositions of the subjects can be attenuate. As a
consequence, the biological predispositions effectively contribute to the numerical
reorganization of the family. Bumpass54 considers that on the family reorganization
analysis, the components that have a causal contribution are both structural and
ideological. As previously demonstrated, the importance of macro social factors can
be subsumed to structural composition of individual choice. In this regard, the
social -reproductive behaviors are influenced by the costs of raising a child, and
beyond it, the manner in which the investments in his education and proper raising
could affect the life standards of the parents. Shortly, it is about re -analyze, in a
different context, of the variable called “group di mensions” as it was imagined by
Easterlin. But, beyond the inevitable of the demographic transition, as it has been
suggested under the influence of modernization, in Bumpass’s acception, there is a
possibility of reversibility of low fertility values. The motivation is not well
grounded in terms of argumentation, as such a “mirror” on phenomenon is
determined by base regarding the uncertainty and impossibility of demographic
predictions. Campbell55 completes this assumption by sustaining the hypothesis of a
“baby boom” in terms of major demographic modifications as consequence of

51 Anthony Giddens, Modernity and Self -Identity: Self and Society in the Late Modern Age ,
Stanford University Press, Stanford CA, 1991, p. 125
52 Philip S. Morgan , Is low fertility a twenty -first century demographic crisis? in
“Demography”, Vol. 40, No.4/2003, p. 593
53 Sarah B. Hrdy, Mother Nature: A History of Mothers, Infants, and Natural Selection ,
Pantheon Books, New York, 1999, p . 444
54 Larry L. Bumpass, What’s Happening to the Family? Interactions Between Demographic
and Institutional Change in “Demography”, vol. 27, no. 4/1990, p. 489
55 Philip S. Morgan , Is low fertility a twenty -first century demographic crisis? in
“Demography”, Vol. 40, No.4/2003, p. 592

Adrian BASARABĂ , Cristina MATIU ȚA
JIMS – Volume 10, number 1, 2016

96 changing the reproductive preferences under the impact of great social phenomena
(the best example is the interwar and post war “baby boom” generations). The
predictability of these kinds of phenomena is, beyond the optimism attached to this
idea, poorly verified and poor in grounded empirical values.
The empiricism of Morgan’s study and its centrality is based on a number
of factors – statistical variables with the support of which he succeeds to reconsider
real arguments from behind the low ranks of fertility, in a pragmatic manner.
Among the most visible and plausible factors are referred to the hypothesis of un –
fertility understood as the capacity of the woman and more generally of the human
species to multiply; of competition – precisely of decisions to review of the plans
regarding fructification of fertility and also the educational level and the will to
avoid non -marital pregnancy. In addition, the decisions regarding fertili ty recovery
are considered approximately plausible as an option for the 25 years old social
segment. The computing model of Bogaarts56 regarding the variables members of
determination of the total rate of fertility (RTF = IFS * F u * F g * F r * F t * F i * F c)
represents a welcome method as a mathematic alternative. In fact, the model
represents a fragmented explanation of the motivations presents in Morgan’s study.
They are significant and determinable factors: IFS – required dimension of the
family; F u – unintended fertility; F g – sexual preference for the child; F r – substitution
effect (of the initial intention regarding fertility); F t – tempo effect or the moment of
fertility capitalization; F i – un-fecundity; F c – competition or reversibility of
decisions regarding capitalization of fertility. Analyzing in a cumulative way, the
computing model of Bogaarts explains in mathematically and deterministic ways
the sociological and analytical models already presented and also appreciates the
evolution of fertility rank.

5. Conclusions
The demographic transition of the population towards lower fertility ranks
and a reorganization of the distribution of the population in the 45+ age segment are
inevitable. The problem put in this manner is a pesimistic version of the posible
„crisis” of the population regarding the global evolution of demography. From
Morgan’s point of view, of neo -malthusian orientation, the low levels of the fertility
predict a stabilization of overall population growth in areas of the world such as
North America and Europe, areas where the old population age segment is going to
evolve in the same manner.
Additional to Morgan’s point of view, Bloom’s57 idea seems to be
promissing in that the regulation of social economic position of the woman can
return to the political agenda’s attention, her reproductive behavior depending on

56 Ibid., p. 598
57 David E. Bloom, David Canning, Jaypee Sevilla, The Demographic Dividend: A New
Perspective on the Economic Consequences of Population Change , RAND, Santa Monica
California, 2003, p. 48

Demographic Changes and Pro -Natalist Policies in the Welfare State
JIMS – Volume 10, number 1, 2016

97 this. Last but not least, „the death of morality”58 framed to post -traditional societies
represents a deconstruction of the family code on the ground of new intentions of
capitalization of self social position. On this back cloth, the political agenda can
state programms which might give the promise of collective accountability
regarding the fertility ranks, but the prevision of a guarantee which can avoid the
limit treshold of total fertility rank is unlikely.

REFERENCES :

Banks, J. A., Secularism and the Size of Families , Routledge & Kegan Paul,
London, 1981.
Bartky Lee, S., Femininity and Domination: Studies in the Phenomenology of
Oppression , Routledge, London, 1990.
Bloom, D. E., Canning, D. and Sevilla, J., The Demographic Dividend: A New
Perspective on the Economic Consequences of Population Change , RAND,
Santa Monica California, 2003.
Buchanan, P. J., The Death of the West: How Dying Populations and Immigrant
Invas ions Imperil Our Country and Civilization , Thomas Dunne Books – St.
Martin ’s Griffin, New York , 2002.
Bumpass, L., What’s Happening to the Family? Interactions Between Demographic
and Institutional Change in “Demography”, vol. 27, no. 4/1990, pp. 483 -498.
Buttafuoco , A, „Motherhood as a political strategy: the role of the Italian women’s
movement in the creation of the Cassa Nazionale di Maternita ” in Gisela
Bock and Pat Thane (eds.), Maternity & Gender Policies: Women and the
Rise of the European Welfare S tates 1880s -1950s , Routledge, London and
New York, 1991, pp. 178 -195.
Easterlin, R. A., Birth and Fortune. The Impact of Numbers on Personal Welfare ,
University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1987.
Ermisch, J. F., Time costs, aspirations and the effect of econ omic growth on
German fertility in „Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics”, no.
42/1980, pp.125 -143.
Esping -Andersen, G., Social Foundations of Postindustrial Economies , Oxford
University Press, New York, 1999.
Gauthier, A.H. and Hatzius , J., Family Benefits and Fertility: An Econometric
Analysis in „Population Studies: A Journal of Demography”, Volume 51,
Issue 3/1997, pp. 295 -306.
Giddens, A., Modernity and Self -Identity: Self and Society in the Late Modern Age ,
Stanford University Press, Stanford C A, 1991.
Glennerster , H., British Social Policy since 1945 , Blackwell Publishers, Malden,
USA, 2000.

58 Patric k J. Buchanan, The Death of the West: How Dying Populations and Immigrant
Invasions Imperil Our Country and Civilization , Thomas Dunne Books – St. Martin ’s
Griffin, New York , 2002, p. 126

Adrian BASARABĂ , Cristina MATIU ȚA
JIMS – Volume 10, number 1, 2016

98 Hrdy, S. B., Mother Nature: A History of Mothers, Infants, and Natural Selection ,
Pantheon Books, New York, 1999.
Lesthaeghe, R., „The second demographic transition in Western countries: An
interpretation” in Karen Oppenheim Mason and An -Magritt Jensen (eds.),
Gender and Family Change in Industrialized Countries (International
Studies in Demography) , Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1995, pp. 17 -62.
Lewis, J., „Models of equality for women: the case of state support for children in
twentieth -century Britain” in Gisela Bock and Pat Thane (eds.), Maternity &
Gender Policies: Women and the Rise of the European Welfare States 1880s –
1950s , Routledge, London & New York, 1991, pp. 73 -92.
Lutz, W., O’Neill, B. C. and Scherbov, S., Europe’s Population at a Turning Point ,
in „Science”, vol. 299, no. 5615/2003, pp. 1991 -1992.
Morgan, P. M., Farewell to the Family? Public Policy and Family Breakdo wn in
Britain and the USA , 2nd ed., Institute of Economic Affairs (Great Britain).
Health and Welfare Unit, London, 1999.
Morgan, P. S. , Is low fertility a twenty -first century demographic crisis? in
“Demography”, Vol. 40, No.4/2003, pp.589 -603.
O'Connor, J. S., Orloff, A. S. and Shaver , S., States, markets, families: Gender,
liberalism and social policy in Australia, Canada, Great Britain and the
United States , Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1999.
Pampel , F. C., Institutional Context of Population Change: Patterns of Fertility and
Mortality Across High -Income Nations (Population and Development
Series) , University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2001.
Platt, L., Understanding Inequalities: Stratification & Difference , Polity,
Cambridge, 2011.
Reich, M. R., Public -Private Partnership for Public Health in “Nature Medicine”,
vol. 6, no. 6/2000, pp. 617 -620.
Rotariu, Traian, Demografie și sociologia populației: fenomene demografice
(Demography and sociology of population: d emographic phenomena) ,
Polirom, Iași, 2003.
Walker, J. R., The Effect of Public Policies on Recent Swedish Fertility Behavior in
„Journal of Population Economics”, vol. 8 (3), August/1995, pp. 223 -251.
Walby, S., Theorizing Patriarchy , Basil Blackwell, Oxford, 1990.