Countries: Japan
Variables: BR-PRACTICE-2

"Many younger Japanese people have balked at marrying or having families, discouraged by bleak job prospects, onerous commutes and corporate cultures incompatible with having both parents work" (para 19). This indicates that while there is government pressure to bear children, there is not really societal pressure for women to have children (MB2-CODER COMMENT).

Countries: Italy
Variables: BR-PRACTICE-2

"While women are under less societal pressure to have children, in Italy, the biggest obstacle to motherhood for some is being able to afford it" (para 22).

Countries: Russia
Variables: BR-PRACTICE-2, AFE-PRACTICE-2

"This summer, Russia’s health minister, Mikhail Murashko, criticized women putting their education and careers ahead of having children as 'improper'" (para 12).

Countries: China
Variables: BR-PRACTICE-2

"Now many young Chinese women are doing exactly that, delaying or shunning marriage and childbirth altogether, mirroring the journey of women in other, wealthier patriarchal East Asian societies such as Japan, South Korea and Taiwan" (para 6).

Countries: Russia
Variables: BR-PRACTICE-2

"In short, it appears that neither the carrot nor the stick will increase the birth rate in Russia. The problem, as in other countries, must be that young women no longer see motherhood and family life as fulfilling life goals" (22).

Countries: China
Variables: BR-PRACTICE-2

"Young people complain about the financial burden of having children and their own economic uncertainty, and push back on traditional ideas about the woman’s role as a caretaker at home. Many have expressed a desire to focus on their careers, while others have embraced a lifestyle known as 'double income, no kids' (para 9)."'In our hometown, if you don’t have children, you would not be able to hold your head high,' Ms. Wang [IVF recipient] said" (para 17). "infertility affects 18 percent of couples in China, compared with a global average of around 15 percent. Researchers cite several factors, including the fact that Chinese couples often wait until later to...more

Countries: China
Variables: BR-PRACTICE-2

"With a falling birthrate on the brink of tipping China’s already fast-ageing population into decline, there is increasing pressure on young people to have more children" (para. 23).

Countries: South Korea
Variables: BR-PRACTICE-2

"While having a baby is very much expected of married couples in South Korea, society still frowns on single parents. IVF treatment is not offered to single women, official hospital figures show" (para 18). "Meanwhile, couples in non-traditional partnerships also face discrimination; South Korea does not recognize same-sex marriage and regulations make it difficult for unwed couples to adopt" (para 21). "'I’ve thought about how heterocentric and normality-centric discussion is in the traditional sense of marriage… (it) excludes people with disabilities, diseases or poor reproductive health,' Lee said" (para 23). "Lee pointed to a common joke that in South Korea, 'if you are not dating by the time you are...more

Countries: China
Variables: BR-PRACTICE-2

"Recent studies have shown Chinese women are increasingly choosing not to have children…Researchers at YuWa say that women are concerned about the mounting costs of education, long working hours and low wages" (para 8-9).

Countries: China
Variables: ERBG-PRACTICE-3, BR-PRACTICE-2

"Some women pointed out that the government had already barred employers from asking women about their marital or childbearing status in 2019, and the problem was weak enforcement. The government has often encouraged women to retreat to more traditional gender roles, in an effort to increase the birthrate" (Para 24).

Countries: China
Variables: BR-PRACTICE-2

“On the other hand, the Chinese government is taking draconian measures to slash birth rates among Uighurs and other minorities as part of a sweeping campaign to curb its Muslim population, even as it encourages some of the country's Han majority to have more children” (para. 12). “'The intention may not be to fully eliminate the Uighur population, but it will sharply diminish their vitality, making them easier to assimilate,' said Darren Byler, an expert on Uighurs at the University of Colorado. 'It's genocide, full stop. 'It´s not immediate, shocking, mass-killing on the spot type genocide, but it´s slow, painful, creeping genocide,' said Joanne Smith Finley, who works at Newcastle...more

Countries: Papua New Guinea
Variables: BR-PRACTICE-2

"As expected, almost all women age 15-19 (90%) have never given birth. However, this proportion declines sharply to 6% to 7% among women age 35-49, indicating that childbearing is almost universal" (81). "Since voluntary childlessness is rare, this is often viewed as a measure of primary infertility or the inability to bear children" (81).

Countries: Maldives
Variables: BR-PRACTICE-2

"Almost all women age 15-19 (99%) have never given birth. However, this proportion declines sharply to less than 4% of women age 45-49, indicating that childbearing is almost universal" (69). The near-universality of childbearing indicates that becoming a mother is very important to society and fulfillment in the Maldives (RAO- CODER COMMENT). "In the Maldives, only about 2% of currently married women in their 40s have never given birth. Since voluntary childlessness is rare, this is often viewed as a measure of primary infertility or the inability to bear children" (69).

Countries: South Korea
Variables: BR-PRACTICE-2

"'Society made me feel like a failure for being in my 30's and not yet a wife or mother,' Baeck said. 'Instead of belonging to someone, I now have a more ambitious future for myself'" (para 4).

Countries: El Salvador
Variables: DMW-PRACTICE-1, BR-PRACTICE-2

"Miscarriages of justice have become shockingly commonplace, in a pious, macho culture which endorses the aggressive persecution of women deemed guilty of rejecting their principal roles as mothers" (para 4).