VID Colloquium
Male Reproductive Behaviour - New Perspectives, Data and Findings
Beatrice Chromková Manea & Ladislav Rabušic
Masaryk University, Brno (Czech Republic)
Date: Thu, 20 Sep. 2012, Time: 10:00-11:00 a.m.
In the context of very low to extremely low fertility levels recorded by many developed countries during the past two decades, an ongoing debate about the causes that lay behind this trend has been conducted by scholars and policy makers. When studying the results coming from various studies working with data either at the aggregate or individual level, one important issue is worth to be noticed: a large number of existing analyses on the reproductive process is largely, if not entirely, based on female fertility data, while men are more or less absent in data gathering and analysis. The first part of the presentation deals with an overview of the existing theoretical perspectives and research studies where male fertility and reproductive behaviour are considered, and emphasizes the causes that stay behind the low interest in male fertility. Further on, we will present a study on men reproductive behaviour conducted in the Czech Republic at the end of 2011. Three topics were chosen to be presented based on the new data: (1) preferences for work and family from a male and female perspective, (2) baby longing in a cross-national comparison, and (3) men and their roles regarding sex, contraception and childbearing.
About the presenters
Beatrice Chromková Manea is researcher at Masaryk University in Brno, Office for Population Studies. She mainly deals with issues related to reproductive behaviour with focus on men and low fertility levels. The results of her work are published in scientific articles and books. Currently, together with Prof. Ladislav Rabusic, she deals with male fertility, the research project financed by Czech Science Foundation. She also works on the project focused on children’s perception on family in the Czech Republic (project also financed by Czech Science Foundation).
Ladislav Rabušic is professor of sociology at Masaryk University in Brno. Interested in social problems and population studies, he has published extensively on ageing and society, on impact of value change on demographic behaviour, and on population policy in the context of very low fertility. Among his recent publications are monographs Where have all the children gone (in Czech), Immigration and immigration policy as a solution of the Czech demographic deficit? (in Czech and co-authored with Aleš Burjanek), Public opinion perception of population ageing, the elderly and related social policy (in Czech and co-authored with Lucie Vidovičová) and The Czech elderly yesterday, today and tomorrow (in Czech and co-authored with Lenka Vohralíková). Currently, together with Dr. Chromkova Manea, he deals with male fertility, the research project financed by Czech Science Foundation.