Fertility by kind of union in Brazil (1980-2010): educational and - PDF document

Fertility by kind of union in Brazil (1980-2010): educational and religious differentials Joice Melo Vieira (Unicamp) Ana Paula Verona (UFMG) Paulo H. V. Martins (UFMG) Short abstract: This study explores the relationship between fertility and nuptiality in Brazil, using data from the demographic censuses of 1980 and 2010. We have found that women living in consensual unions have higher fertility levels than those who opt for marriage. However, we have detected a converging trend between the fertility levels of married women and those in consensual unions. We apply the decomposition of the fertility rate to establish the contribution of each type of union towards total fertility rate. With that, the share of consensual unions over time increases, as does the share of this type of union in total fertility. The argument is that the meaning of having children has changed, and that even though consensual unions have become more common across all social groups, the type of union the woman is in when having children remains an important differential, according to her educational level and religion. Antecedents In the last 60 years, Brazil has undergone three sets of transformations that have been gradually changing the country's population composition: the demographic transition; the religious transition (Pierucci, 2004; Alves, Cavenaghi and Barros, 2014; Almeida, 2015) and the educational transition (Carnoy et al. 2013), all of which have had significant impacts on family life. These processes have intensified, particularly since the 1980s (see Table 1). The combination of two phenomena – fertility below the replacement level and the growth of consensual unions in lieu of marriages – is at the heart of this study. The pattern of Latin American unions has been described as dual, since consensual unions and marriages have always coexisted side by side in the region. The studies that claim that this dual pattern is prevailing emphasize that there has always been a strong association between union type and social status, with consensual unions being much more common among the less-privileged population – especially among lower-income and less educated groups – while marriage was the rule among those at the opposite end of the social hierarchy (Castro-Martín, 2002). These studies tend to express some concern about consensual unions, based on the premise that informal marital relationships may 1

contribute to men being less involved with the family and possibly increase the risk of women and children ending up unassisted in the event of a separation1. The dual union type thesis has been revised, considering that, in recent decades, consensual unions have become much more common across all segments of Brazilian society, including among the most privileged social strata (Esteve et al., 2012). The explanations for such behavior tend to associate the phenomenon with ideational changes, a weakening of the role of institutions on everyday life, increased uncertainty in long- term decision-making, difficulty achieving financial stability and the elimination of legal barriers that, until re-democratization (1980s), guaranteed comparative advantages to married couples against those in consensual unions (Covre-Sussai and Matthijs, 2010; Covre-Sussai et al., 2014; Verona et al., 2015; Esteve et al., 2016; Vieira, 2016). Some authors tend to emphasize a single explanation. However, considering the complexity of the phenomenon, it is very likely that these diverse economic, cultural and political factors have combined to produce the significant increase in the share of consensual unions in lieu of marriages. A new generation of studies has begun to map the plurality of family formation process in Brazil. And, of course, for every trend there is a counter-trend. When it comes to consensual unions, the counter-trend seems to be represented by the Evangelical youth (Verona et al., 2015). Since the late 1990s, Evangelicals have emerged as a new political force in Brazil. While they are still a minority, they aspire to hold leadership positions in the national executive and legislative branches, based on a platform that calls for a defense of conservative values, especially with regards to family as an institution. Some of the legislation proposals introduced by the Evangelical caucus in the Brazilian Congress is the “Family Act,” which seeks to largely reverse the progressive and pluralistic perspectives on family that have been in place since the country went back to a democratic rule in the 1980s. 1 In Brazil, however, it should be noted that, since the mid-1980s, legislation equated consensual unions and marriages when it comes to mutual assistance rights and duties. Parenthood and conjugal status become independent entities in family law. Parents’ obligations towards their children do not depend on the context in which they were conceived or the type of relationship between the father and the mother. The popularity of DNA testing and its use as the decisive factor in defining who is responsible for child support has been widespread in Brazil, particularly in parental abandonment cases brought to trial, where it is often available free of charge. 2

Another social group in which marriage continues to be the norm are the highly educated. However, in this case, the social status markers associated with marriage seem to prevail, something that Cherlin (2013) had already observed in the U.S. context. In international comparative studies, Latin America has been described as a region where it is socially acceptable to have and raise children in consensual unions (Castro- Martín et al, 2011; Laplante et al., 2015). But is this behavior widespread across all social segments? If unconventional cohabitation has spread to society as a whole, what family settings are children being born into? Is there a tendency to formalize the union before the children are born? Based on data from 1986, 1996 and 2006, Vieira (2016) affirms that the fertility rate of Brazilian women in consensual unions is slightly higher than that of married women, and the first group has children at a younger age. He notes that, despite a rapid increase in cohabitation also among women in more privileged social groups, the prevailing pattern for such women is to have children in wedlock. Given this situation, this study aims to contribute by comparing the levels and patterns of female fertility according to the type of union, religion and educational level. Then, the fertility rates are decomposed in order to explore the type of marital relationship maintained by the mothers near the birth of their children. Methodology The data used in this study were obtained from demographic census from 1980 and 2010, provided by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). The first step of the analysis refers to the construction of the specific fertility rates and the total fertility rate for the female population in formal unions (marriage) and in consensual unions. The purpose of this measurement as constructed herein is to explore the fertility level in each of these two subgroups when considered as two distinct populations: married Brazilian women and Brazilian women in consensual unions. Fertility estimates were calculated using the Brass P/F method, a variant developed by Trussell that is based on information about the female population of reproductive age, distributed by five-year age groups; number of children born alive in the last year by mother’s five-year age group; and total number of children born alive by mother’s five- year age group at the time of the interview. In general, when calculating fecundity by marital status, the average number of children per woman tends to be quite high, well above the total fertility rate (TFR) for the 3