Nieuwsbrief 32 (pdf) - Sophia

echerche
32
onderzoek
sophia | n° 32 | 2002
compte-rendu
In this article we would like to present
the progress we made in the framework
of the MOCHO project. In a previous
issue of Sophia (Issue 29, 1st quarter of
2002), we presented the project in detail:
its objectives, its use and value, the countries
involved in the project, etc. Very
briefly, we want to recall that the project’s
full title is «The Rationale of Motherhood
Choices: Influence of Employment
Conditions and of Public Policies
(MOCHO)». It is part of the Key Action
«Improving Human Research Potential
and the Socio-economic Knowledge Base»
of the Fifth Framework Programme of
the European Commission. It is a threeyear
project that has started on the 1st of
October 2001 and will run until the 1st
of October 2004. Five countries participate
in the project. Besides Belgium and
the Netherlands, the coordinating countries,
Italy, Greece and France are involved.
The MOCHO project
Danièle Meulders and Sile O’Dorchai, ULB
After one year of research, we are very
proud to present the following results.
Firstly, we have created our own web site
through which one has access to all details
regarding our research and the progress
made as well as to a broader range of interesting
studies and events. Under the heading
"MOCHO in brief" on this web
site, one can learn all there is to know
about the project's content, objectives,
partners, timetable, etc. In the section
"reports" one can find information on
the progress of our work and gradually
more and more results will be available in
the form of these reports. On a regular
basis (every 6 months), a newsletter is
published providing a richness of announcements
and information on a wide range
of topics. At present, two newsletters
are available. All relevant past and future
events are announced in a separate window.
A click on "links" opens a world of
links to universities, research teams and
centres, social organisations and agencies
and statistical institutes, all of which are
involved directly or indirectly in the field
of motherhood choices. Finally, the
"What's new?" box informs about all the
latest updates and changes to any of the
items of our MOCHO web site. The site’s
address is:
http://www.ulb.ac.be/soco/mocho.
Secondly, we have constructed a data base
of bibliographical references on three
main topics: Motherhood and fertility,
Motherhood and labour market, and
Motherhood and public policies. This
data base is accessible from our web site.
The point of departure to use this bibliographical
data base is a list of keywords
and countries. A hyperlink was created
from each of the keywords to the first
reference in the review of the literature
that treats of the specific topic referred
to by the keyword chosen. For each of
the studies in the database, the full bibliographical
reference is available as well as
a list of the countries treated in the study,
a description of the data and the
methodology used and a brief summary
of the study’s results. In the table containing
the information on the reference of
one’s choice, we have repeated the keyword
and have made it possible to click
on it in order to jump to the next item in
the literary review that deals with the subject.
It is possible to continue in this way
to run through the whole document viewing
only those studies that are relevant
to a topic of one’s choice. We have also
accounted for the fact that, sometimes, it
might be useful to browse the review of
the literature not by keyword but by
country. Therefore, besides a list of keywords,
a list of countries was set up. Suppose
one were interested in the Netherlands,
then he/she could click on the
Netherlands in the list of countries in
order to jump to the first reference in the
literary review that has studied the Netherlands.
Within that reference’s table, it is
possible to click on the Netherlands to
jump to the next relevant study, and so on.
We have also added a users’ guide to the
electronic version of the literary review
in which we explain the way we have
structured and organised the review and
how we recommend to use it.
Our third main accomplishment in our
first year of research was the publication
of a state of the art which is also available
on our project’s web site.
The first chapter focuses on analysing
and presenting recent trends in fertility
development. Fertility is currently below
the replacement level in all European
Community member states. A substantial
share of the decreasing development of
the period total fertility rates can be
accounted for by what demographers call
the tempo effect or the timing of maternity
as opposed to the quantum effect or
the number of children born to a woman
over her life cycle. New mothers in Europe
have never been so old before. In the
1990s, there has been a monotonically
rising trend in mothers’ age at first birth.
Breaking down fertility patterns by education
of the woman reveals that high
educated women wait longer than less
educated women before they have a child.
Also, more educated women are more
likely to remain ultimately childless. This
creates a hypothesis that longer education
causes decreasing fertility. A study
of the duration since the age at which
education is finished shows that there are
no educational differences anymore in
waiting time to have a child. This suggests
that finishing education is crucial.
The MOCHO project’s Amsterdam team
is currently analysing the age at which a
woman moves together with a man and