Changing gender relations, declining fertility? An analysis of childbearing trajectories in 19th-century Netherlands

Background : A long-standing and still unresolved debate has developed on whether the historical fertility transition was caused by 'spacing' (increasing the time between births) or by stopping (terminating childbearing at younger ages). Moreover, there is little consensus about the relative importance of gender relations in effecting reproductive change. Objective : First, we wish to shed new light on the stopping versus spacing debate by applying a sequence analysis approach, allowing us to describe changes in complete childbearing trajectories. Second, we want to understand the association... Mehr ...