Pathways and obstacles to parenthood among women in same-sex couples in Spain
BACKGROUND: Even though same-sex couples face clear obstacles to parenthood, little is known about the extent to which preferences and obstacles can explain the lower levels of parenthood among individuals in same-sex couples. OBJECTIVE: The objective is to document routes into parenthood and to qua...
| Autores: | , , |
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Estado: | Versión publicada |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2024 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Universitat Pompeu Fabra |
| Repositorio: | Repositorio Digital de la UPF |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:repositori.upf.edu:10230/61201 |
| Acceso en línea: | http://hdl.handle.net/10230/61201 http://dx.doi.org/10.4054/DEMRES.2024.50.35 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Parelles lesbianes -- Espanya Parelles homosexuals -- Espanya Maternitat -- Espanya Fecunditat humana -- Espanya -- Estadístiques |
| Sumario: | BACKGROUND: Even though same-sex couples face clear obstacles to parenthood, little is known about the extent to which preferences and obstacles can explain the lower levels of parenthood among individuals in same-sex couples. OBJECTIVE: The objective is to document routes into parenthood and to quantify the gap between observed and desired number of children among women in different-sex and same-sex couples in Spain. METHODS: We use the representative 2018 Spanish fertility survey, which includes 14,556 women, of whom 139 are in a same-sex couple. We use coarsened exact matching techniques to match women across couple types who are identical on a set of observable characteristics. RESULTS: Less than half of women in a same-sex couple had children by the age of 40, as compared to around 80% of women in a different-sex couple. We do not observe changes in rates of parenthood across cohorts of women in same-sex couples, but do observe changes in the pathways followed. Even though women in same-sex couples have lower levels of desired fertility, the gap between desired and realized fertility is larger for women in same-sex couples than for women in different-sex couples. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, results show that obstacles to parenthood are prevalent among women in both different-sex and same-sex couples, but appear particularly high and persistent for the latter. CONTRIBUTION: We are the first to quantify differences in the extent to which parenthood desires are met between women in same-sex and different-sex couples in Spain, using representative data. |
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