Presentation: Presser

Presentation by Harriet B. Presser on Working in a 24/7 Economy: Challenges for American Families, for the event: The Great American Time Squeeze: The Politics of Work and Family in a 24/7 World on March 3, 2005

Demographic change and response: social context and the practice of birth control in six countries

This paper expands on Kingsley Davis’s demographic thesis of change and re- sponse. Specifically, we consider the social context that accounts for the primacy of particular birth control methods that bring about fertility change during specific time periods. We examine the relevance of state policy (including national family planning programs), the international population establishment, the medical profession, organized religion, and women’s groups using case studies from Japan, Russia, Puerto Rico, China, India, and Cameroon. Some of these countries are undergoing the second demographic transition, others the first. Despite variations in context, heavy reliance on sterilization and/or abortion as a means of birth control is a major response in most of these countries. The key roles of the medical profession and state policy are discussed, along with the general lack of influence of religion and of women’s groups in these countries

Gender and Nonstandard Work Hours in 12 European Countries

Labor force surveys conducted in several European countries in 2005 indicate high levels of nonstandard work hours, varying by gender; by contrast, nonstandard work hours for both men and women vary little by whether they have or do not bave children