The Center for Advanced Social Science Research, and
Institute of Human Development and Social Change
Present:
Megan M. Sweeney
Professor, Vice Chair and Director of Graduate Studies
UCLA Department of Sociology
"Gender, Class, and Contraception in Comparative Context:
The Perplexing Links between Sterilization and Disadvantage”
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
12:30-1:50pm
295 Lafayette Street, 4th Floor
Conference Room, 4156
This research considers the association between sterilization and socioeconomic status in
comparative context, using data from the 2006-10 National Survey of Family Growth and the
Generations and Gender Project. We first confirm that longstanding patterns of association
between socioeconomic status and sterilization persist in the contemporary United States.
Specifically, female sterilization is associated with economic disadvantage but male sterilization
is associated with economic advantage. We then investigate whether similar patterns are
observed in nine other low-fertility countries, and consider whether these associations can be
explained by differences across groups in background factors such as the timing of childbearing
or union stability.