More work, more babies

More work, more babies

This scenario may just be going in French households every night when the wife returns from work...

"Honey, I"m home! Let's make more babies!" she says to her hubby!

A new study by the French demographic institute Ined, finds that the more women work, the more babies they have..

French newspaper Les Echoes reported the rationale is although working women have less time to spend with children, they still earn enough money to afford the extra costs.

This is particularly evident in Scandinavian countries and in France, where the fertility rate is among the highest of the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development).

Bear in mind, these countries have good child-care facilities and policies that allow working parents take time off when babies are born.

French women currently have an average of 2.1 children, according to the study.

This is unlike countries like Germany, where the child-care system has not kept pace with the times perhaps resulting in the countrys low birth rate (1.4 per woman).

In most of the richest countries, the rebound of the fertility rate is linked to a higher employment rate of women, write the studys authors, Angela Luci and Olivier Thvenon.

The possibility for women to be able to reconcile work and family appears to be a key factor in the rising birth rates.

And all along, we thought that women had to choose between family and career

Source: Worldcrunch.com. Les Echoes

Image: Worldcrunch

Published Sept 25 2011