| Abstract [eng] |
Given the persistently low fertility rates in Lithuania, this dissertation aims to examine how childbearing is related to the changing gender roles and the self-constructed identity projects. The demographic perspective on the significance of the gender role changes for fertility is employed to achieve this goal, along with the ideas developed in the sociological theories of late modernity conveying the concept of self-constructed personal life plans. Analysis of the linkages between childbearing and gender roles change, childbearing can be influenced by both the societal knowledge about gender roles and the individually attributed meanings to gender roles. At the macro level, the specificity of gender revolution can affect childbearing not only in terms of the level of the societal agreement on the gender role attitudes and egalitarianism, but also in terms of the duration of the gender revolution stages and the expression of these attitudes in the society. However, at the micro level, these links may not be observed, and the perspective of those individuals who have children may not align with the dominant societal views. The research also reveals that, considering the social meanings attributed to childbearing four personal life-styles are identified in the study which manifest themselves in different types of the project of the self: commitment to the child, self-oriented, oriented towards the internalizing experience, and oriented towards the external environment. |
