This talk will focus on the relationship between fertility and gender equality in both the public and private arena. It argues that gender equality can both reduce and boost fertility rate or fertility desire, generating a "gender-equality paradox of fertility." In high fertility regime, gender equality in the public sphere facilitates the transition from high to low fertility, while in the low-fertility context, gender equality in the public sphere will continue to reduce fertility due to demographic inertia and the failure of public policy, but gender equality in the private sphere may bring an opposite effect on fertility, pushing very low fertility rates gradually back up. However,  the relationship between fertility and gender equality may not be unidimensional, but varies by level of fertility rate, gender and other factors.

Juhua Yang is a Professor of School of Ethnology and Sociology, Minzu University of China. Her current research focuses on social wellbeing and its articulation with social change. Specifically, she is interested in the determinants and consequences of internal migration, gender inequality throughout individuals’ life course, and family-related policy issues in China. She has recently published books, e.g., Introduction to Social Demography (2020), and in Search of the Urban Dream Migration (2018), and research articles related to gender and the family, children and elderly wellbeing, fertility policy, and migration. She has also won national and international awards.