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Educational differences in fertility among female same-sex couples

Author

Listed:
  • Maria Ponkilainen

    (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany)

  • Elina Einiö

    (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany)

  • Marjut Pietiläinen
  • Mikko Myrskylä

    (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany)

Abstract
Same-sex couples increasingly often live in legally recognized unions and have children as a couple. The accessibility of parenthood, however, depends on intersecting contextual and couple-level characteristics. Using Finnish register data on female same-sex couples who registered their partnership in 2006–2015, during which important legal reforms regarding same-sex parenthood took place, we explore how education and the existence of prior children predict childbearing within the same-sex partnership. Female same-sex couples’ likelihood of having a child within five years of registering a partnership increased from 34% to 43% over the observation window. This increase was not universal. For couples educated to tertiary level, the increase was from 39% to 52%. For primary and lower-secondary levels, the likelihood decreased from 26% to 8%. Couples with the highest level of education and no prior children were most likely to have a child, and couples with low education and a prior child born before the partnership were least likely to do so. These results highlight how intersectional factors shape female same-sex couples’ fertility behavior. Intensifying educational differences in couples’ fertility may reflect changes in couple-level characteristics as well as institutional barriers to childbearing that need more attention. Keywords Same-sex couple, Registered partnership, Family formation, Childbearing, Educational level

Suggested Citation

  • Maria Ponkilainen & Elina Einiö & Marjut Pietiläinen & Mikko Myrskylä, 2022. "Educational differences in fertility among female same-sex couples," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2022-030, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2022-030
    DOI: 10.4054/MPIDR-WP-2022-030
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    JEL classification:

    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

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