An investigation of the unexpectedly high fertility of secular, native-born Jews in Israel

Barbara S. Okun

Population Studies, 2016, vol. 70, issue 2, 239-257

Abstract: Secular, native-born Jews in Israel enjoy the socio-economic status of many affluent populations living in other democratic countries, but have above-replacement period and cohort fertility. This study revealed a constellation of interrelated factors which together characterize the socio-economic, cultural, and political environment of this fertility behaviour and set it apart from that of other advanced societies. The factors are: a combination of state and family support for childbearing; a dual emphasis on the social importance of women's employment and fertility; policies that support working mothers within a conservative welfare regime; a family system in which parents provide significant financial and caregiving aid to their adult children; relatively egalitarian gender-role attitudes and household behaviour; the continuing importance of familist ideology and of marriage as a social institution; the role of Jewish nationalism and collective behaviour in a religious society characterized by ethno-national conflict; and a discourse which defines women as the biological reproducers of the nation.Supplementary material for this article is available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00324728.2016.1195913

Date: 2016
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DOI: 10.1080/00324728.2016.1195913

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