Changes in the Outer and Inner Facets of Marriages in Taiwan 于若蓉劉育昇...

Changes in the Outer and Inner Facets of

Marriages in Taiwan

于若蓉 • 劉育昇調查研究專題中心

中央研究院人文社會科學研究中心

中央研究院人文社會科學研究中心調查研究專題中心

Changes in Marriages of Taiwan


Marriages in Earlier Periods of Taiwan Marriages were early, universal, and arranged by

older generation to continue family line, increase family labor, provide old-age security, extend social networks, and facilitate financial transfers between bride’s and groom’s families

Embedded in this multi-generational family context, marriage was not oriented toward satisfying individual or spousal interests or desires


Changes in Mate Choosing and Age at Marriage

Parents today rarely control children’s choice of mate – Mere 12.4% of couples who married before 1970

chose their own spouse– It rose to 42.15% for those who married in 1990s

Both men and women now marry later in life course– In 1970, average age at first marriage was 28.2

for men and 22.1 for women– By 2005, average age at first marriage had risen

to 30.6 for men and 27.4 for women, and the increase was particularly marked among high-educated women


Changes in Attitudes toward Marriages (2/2) Less people believe marriage’s main purpose is

to continue family line– 2006 Taiwan Social Change Survey (TSCS),

Only 18.8% agreed that “one should have at least a son to sustain the male lineage”

49.5% agreed “that is not necessary to have a child after marriage”

Marriages has become more fragile– In 1980, crude divorce rate was 0.76– By 2010, it had jumped to 2.51


Changes in Crude Marriage Rates and Crude Divorce Rates in Taiwan


Changes in Total Fertility Rate and Ratio of Out-of-wedlock Births in TaiwanChanges in Total Fertility Rate and Ratio of Out-of-wedlock Births in Taiwan


Changes in Gross Enrollment Ratios of Higher Education in Taiwan


Changes in Labor Force Participation Rates in Taiwan


Changes in Average Age of First Marriage of Women in Taiwan


Percentage of Never Married among College Educated Men andWomen in Taiwan: Statistics from Population Census

Age Year of Census Men (%) Women (%)25-29 1980 65 47

1990 78 652000 85 752010 88 77

30-34 1980 17 191990 28 252000 39 352010 51 41

35-39 1980 5 111990 9 152000 15 222010 23 24

40-44 1980 3 91990 4 122000 8 16

　 2010 12 18


Proportions of Cross-border Marriages in Taiwan

Proportion of Non-Taiwanese Brides (%)

Proportion of Non-Taiwanese Bridegrooms (%)

YearChina, Hong Kong

and Macao OthersChina, Hong Kong

and Macao Others1998 8.18 5.93 0.35 1.23

1999 9.67 7.34 0.49 1.13

2000 12.54 10.49 0.47 1.25

2001 15.76 9.48 0.60 1.35

2002 16.02 9.85 1.03 1.55

2003 18.12 9.85 1.78 1.64

2004 9.16 13.61 0.28 2.12

2005 9.83 7.48 0.32 1.89

2006 9.71 4.60 0.36 1.86

2007 10.62 5.53 0.44 1.97

2008 8.19 3.94 0.42 1.94

2009 10.76 4.76 0.59 2.55


Unchanging Facets

of Marriages


Continuities with Beliefs in Marital Matching (1/3)

It is common view that men should marry women who are younger, less educated, and of lower socioeconomic status– 2006 TSCS,

More than half of the respondents (52%) agreed that a groom should be older than his bride, while only 16% respondents disagreed


Continuities with Spousal Role in Marriage (2/3)

Wife’s and husband’s role in family labor– 2006 TSCS

With regard to the statement that “the husband should be the breadwinner and the wife the homemaker,” 52.1% of the respondents agreed with it, while only 37.4% disagreed


Continuities with Patrilateral Norm (3/3) Kinship obligations retain a patrilateral tilt

– With respect to married couples and their parents, financial transfers flowed primarily from married sons (and their spouses) to sons’ parents

– Co-residing with husband’s parents was quite common in Taiwan, while co-residing with wife’s parents was rare


Purpose


Analytic Strategies Using multiple waves of data from the Panel

Study of Family Dynamics (PSFD), we explore changes in division of housework between married couples

Using data from the 1996 and 2006 Taiwan Social Change Survey (TSCS), we explore changes in marital power


Panel Study of Family Dynamics (PSFD)

http://psfd.sinica.edu.tw/ Panel survey conducted annually since 1999 Implemented by the Program for the Study of

Chinese Families, RCHSS, Academia Sinica Groups of main respondents used in analysis

– Cohort born 1935-54 (first interviewed in 2000)– Cohort born 1955-64 (first interviewed in 1999)– Cohort born 1965-76 (first interviewed in 2003)

Data used in our analysis are from first wave till 2007 follow-up

http://psfd.sinica.edu.tw/


Taiwan Social Change Survey (TSCS)

http://www.ios.sinica.edu.tw/sc/ Repeated cross sectional surveys conducted

since 1984 Implemented by the Institute of Sociology,

Academia Sinica Target population is individuals aged 20 and

above Sample randomly selected using stratified

multistage random sampling method Data used in our analysis are from the 1996 and

2006 surveys

http://www.ios.sinica.edu.tw/sc/


Model and Analysis:

Division of Housework


Preliminary Observations (1/2) According to PSFD conducted in early 2000s

– Husbands averaged 6.2 hours of housework per week and their wives 19.8 hours

In 2007 follow-up,– Both men and women had reduced their

domestic workload slightly– But gap between men and women remained

almost unchanged, even when couples with husbands aged 65 or above were excluded


Table 7.1 Average Hours and Share of Housework: By Husband’s and Wife’s Working Statuses

Husband Full-time Work or Not /

Wife Full-time Work or Not

Husband Yes /

Wife YesHusband Yes /

Wife NotHusband Not /

Wife YesHusband Not /

Wife Not

Wife’s housework (in hours)

14.72 22.52 12.90 20.69

Husband’s housework (in hours)

5.17 5.54 6.85 5.49

Wife’s housework share(%)

72.87 73.06 71.32 74.70

Number of observations 454 334 133 251


Preliminary Observations (2/2) Women employed outside home do fewer hours of

housework than women who did not work outside home

However, percentage of housework performed by wives, regardless of couples’ work status, remains virtually the same across groups– When neither spouse works, wives contribute 74.7%– When both work, wives contribute 72.9%– When husbands do not work but wives do, wives

still contribute over 70% Pattern of a heavier housework burden for wives has

become stronger among the youngest cohorts


Sample Panel for cohort born in 1935-76 from first wave

till 2007 Confine our sample to married couples with

husbands aged below 65 Delete observations with missing variables

~ Sample used in our analysis consists of 11,490 observations, pertaining to 2,649 families


Model For ith couple at time t, consider housework time

(h) equation,

~ Random-effects model

,

221,,0

itic

itc

itditdl

illk

itkkit

uCOHORT

DURDURZXh

: dependent variable’s and ’s: time-varying and time-invariant explanatory variablesDURit: years of marriage for the coupleCOHORTit’s: birth cohort dummies


Dependent Variables Absolute housework load of spouses

– Wife’s housework time– Husband’s housework time

Relative housework load of spouses– Wife’s housework share

Ratio of wife’s housework time to sum of spouses’ housework time


Key Explanatory Variables Relative resources ~ relative resources hypothesis

– Difference between husband’s and wife’s income

Time availability ~ time availability hypothesis– Wife’s / husband’s working hours

Gender ideology ~ gender ideology hypothesis– Answer to “husband breadwinner-wife

homemaker” question, in 1-5 scale


Other explanatory variables Time-varying explanatory variables

– Sum of couple’s income, wife’s/husband’s health condition, any children aged 6 or below, coresiding with wife’s/husband’s parent(s) or not, residential area

– Years of marriage and its squared term Time-invariant explanatory variables

– Wife’s/husband’s ethnicity, wife’s/husband’s father’s education, spousal age difference

– Husband’s birth year dummies


Findings (1/3) In relative/wife’s housework equations,

– Relative resources hypothesis partly supported Wives with relatively higher income are more

likely to lighten their housework, either in absolute or relative terms

However, educational differences do not exhibit significant effects

– Gender role ideology sustains For families holding more traditional attitudes

toward gender roles, there is a less egalitarian division of housework


Findings (2/3) Husband’s housework load is invariant to

changes in spousal resources or gender beliefs Cohort effects

– Wife’s housework share is significantly lower for older cohorts than younger ones

– Possible explanation Women who self-select into marriage at a

younger age might be those who were most likely to adopt existing norms of marital allocation, and thus prone to take relatively more housework


Findings (3/3) Years of marriage exhibit nonlinear effects Woman with Mainlander husband tend to engage

in less housework If wife’s father is more educated, wife tends to

take less domestic work With child aged 6 or younger, both spouses’

housework load is heavier Co-residing with wife’s parents tends to lessen

both wife’s and husband’s housework Couple residing in more urbanized areas tends to

have lower housework hours


Model and Analysis:

Marital Power


Preliminary Observations from Past Studies Yi and Yang (1995) found a gradual shift toward

greater egalitarianism Yi et al. (2000) and Xu and Lai (2002) found

support for norms of gender equality that were significantly associated with sharing of marital power

Chu and Yu (2010, Chap. 6) found that wife’s relative resources significantly increased her relative power in regard to decisions regarding savings and investment, housing and moving, and purchasing high-priced commodities, but not those involving daily expenditures


Preliminary Observations from 2006 TSCS Concerning marital power related to the allocation

of daily expenditures, purchasing of high-priced commodities, and disciplining children – Regardless of spousal working statuses or type

of decisions, joint decision-making is the modal type

– Wives usually have more say except when purchasing high-priced commodities


Table 7.3 Distribution of Marital Power: By Husband’s and Wife’s Working Statuses (%)

Husband Full-time Work or Not /

Wife Full-time Work or Not

Type of decision /Whose decision

Husband Yes /Wife Yes

Husband Yes /Wife Not

Husband Not /Wife Yes

Husband Not /Wife Not

Daily expenditure Husband 20.44 31.44 18.04 29.46

Jointly 39.88 27.42 37.70 37.50 Wife 39.68 41.14 44.26 33.04

Sum 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

High-priced commodities

Husband 32.73 40.34 27.86 30.36 Jointly 47.59 40.67 47.54 53.57 Wife 19.68 19.00 24.59 16.07

Sum 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

Child discipline Husband 16.77 12.32 20.34 16.66

Jointly 49.04 50.68 47.46 48.15 Wife 34.18 36.98 32.20 35.18

Sum 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00


Model For ith individual from tth year (t = 1996, 2006)

,

,2

21,0*

itity

citccitditd

kitkkit

YEAR

COHORTDURDURXP

DUR, DUR2: Years of marriage and its squareCOHORTc: Birth cohort dummiesYEAR: Survey year dummies (= 1 if 2006, = 0 if 1996)X’s: Other explanatory variables

~ Ordered probit model marital power (= 1 if decided by husband, =2 if jointly decided, =3 if decided by wife)


Differences in Measures of Variables Economic statuses of spouses in original families

are used instead of parental education Spousal working statuses are used in place of

working hours Total family income is defined by household’s total

income, with both labor and non-labor incomes included


Findings (1/3) Resource theory is supported

– Higher education of husband leads to a decrease in wife’s power in all aspects

– Better economic condition of wife’s original family leads to greater power over daily expenditures on wife’s side

Gender role hypothesis does not hold– Gender ideology variable insignificant in all

equations


Findings (2/3) Birth cohort dummies only exhibit minor effects in

daily expenditure and child discipline equations Wife’s power in child discipline in 2006 is higher

than in 1996 Inverted-U relationship between power and

marital duration in daily expenditure equation is similar to findings in housework equations


Findings (3/3) Having a Mainlander husband or holding a market

job tend to enhance wife’s power regarding daily expenditures

Higher family income is detrimental for wife’s power concerning high-priced commodities, but presence of a child is beneficial

Existence of a son tends to reduce wife’s power in child discipline

Co-residing with wife’s parents tends to enhance wife’s power, but co-residing with husband’s parents has opposite effect


Conclusions


Conclusions (1/2) Cohort dummies exhibit monotonic effects in

housework share equation – Wife’s housework share has become heavier for

younger cohorts – Our explanation is that women married young

might be those who were more compliant with existing practice of marital allocation, and thus are willing to take more housework

Cohort effects in other equations are almost insignificant– Internal division of marriage have not changed

much across cohorts


Conclusions (2/2) Co-existence of different facets of marriages in

Taiwan looks irreconcilable How to explain?

– Traditional patriarchal practices between married couples may discourage more highly educated women from entering marriage

– Men can search for a spouse in China or elsewhere in Asia in order to realize aspirations for a more traditional marriage

– Women dissatisfied with traditional marriage may stay single or married late


謝謝聆聽！

Changes in the Outer and Inner Facets of Marriages in Taiwan 于若蓉劉育昇...

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Transcript of Changes in the Outer and Inner Facets of Marriages in Taiwan 于若蓉劉育昇...

Changes in the Outer and Inner Facets of Marriages in Taiwan 于若蓉 劉育昇...

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Transcript of Changes in the Outer and Inner Facets of Marriages in Taiwan 于若蓉 劉育昇...

Changes in the Outer and Inner Facets of Marriages in Taiwan 于若蓉劉育昇...

Transcript of Changes in the Outer and Inner Facets of Marriages in Taiwan 于若蓉劉育昇...