Were Women Present at the Demographic Transition? Questions from a Feminist Historian to Historical Demographers

Bibliographic Data

ID12227442
AuthorsAlison Mackinnon (corresponding author)
Year1995
Volume7
Issue2
Pages222-240
Publication date1995-08-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueGender & History (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0953-5233 • E-ISSN: 1468-0424
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1468-0424.1995.tb00022.x
PMID12346528
OpenAlexW2133755211
LanguageEN
Citations received23

This essay identifies some of the deficiencies in discussions about fertility decline that bridge the gap between feminist historians and historical demographers. The author suggests that women are portrayed in the historical demographic literature as lacking decision-making ability. The author emphasizes that women are viewed in the literature as reproductive resources in a national context or statistical entities in quantitative analysis rather than as active and informed participants in reproductive decision-making. The author points out that the concept of fertility decline itself identifies reproduction with a biological universe unrelated to issues of social change. Since the concept of demographic transition was introduced in the 1950s, it has been criticized for its false sense of universalism about a complex set of social relations. Princeton University's European Fertility Project is criticized by David Levine as describing "large-group behavior at the expense of familial experience." Levine uses the couple as the primary unit of analysis rather than region, but ignores, as pointed out by Jay Winter and Wally Seccombe, that the changing position of women and changing marital relations are key to fertility decline. Fertility discourses at the turn of the century focused on the decline in racial dominance, class differences in fertility, and women's selfishness in taking control of their bodies. Thereafter, there was a shift from eugenics and biologism to medical sciences, statistics, and social sciences and policy. The long period of historical invisibility of women is now being reworked by scholars such as McNicholl, who recognize the different interests of men and women in families. It is argued by Anthony Gibbons that lesbian couples may be pioneers in clearly separating their reproductive capacities from their sexuality, a direction that heterosexuals may be approaching

Context (archaeology · Demographic transition · Fertility · Population · Social science · Sociology · Demography · Gender Studies · Historical Economic and Social Studies · Historical Gender and Feminism Studies · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes · History

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