Many countries in Europe have experienced fertility below replacement level for a long period of time. Population ageing and difficulties in sustaining current living standards follow low fertility levels. To be able to increase fertility levels it is necessary to give women and men in Europe opportunities to fulfil their desired life, with or without children. Work-family reconciliation policies can either prevent people from or allow them to combine a career and a family. To what extent these policies have an influence on short-term childbearing intentions in Poland and Sweden is the focus of this study. Using data from the Gender and Generation Survey, the results show that women in Poland are more likely to intend to have a first child within the next three years than are women in Sweden, despite less favourable work-family reconciliation policies, while childless men in Poland are less likely to intend to have a child in the near future than are men in Sweden. It also shows that the attitudes towards parental leave policies have an effect on first childbearing intentions, but that attitudes towards childcare systems play a minor role when intending to become a parent or not in the near future. Common to the work-family reconciliation policies is that the attitudes towards them are contextually embedded.

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A Second Child in the Family - the Consequences of Changing Family and Fertility Patterns in the Czech Republic Anna Šťastná Abstract The theme of this study is the two-child family model and second order births in the context of a changing Czech society. The study investigates the conditions and context surrounding the birth of a second child and the general values associated with children and focuses on selected factors associated with the decision-making process surrounding having a second child including the factors that a woman takes into account when deciding whether to have another child. Furthermore, the author studies the determinants of having a second child in Czech society and the relationship between the likelihood of the birth of a second child and different micro-level covariates and attempts to provide an explanation of the processes acting upon second childbearing through interaction with education and partnerships/union dynamics. The thesis is divided into three thematic sections. Following the introductory chapters, the first part of the study addresses fertility patterns in the Czech Republic, societal conditions and theoretical concepts which deal with possible explanations for changing fertility behaviour. The second part of the study considers decision-making processes and value...