Fertility Goals: Conceptualization, Measurement, and Impact for Science and Policy
Workshop sponsored by the Ohio Population Consortium
Organized by John Casterline, Sarah Hayford, and Wendy Manning
Over the course of the twentieth century, fertility intentions, desires, preferences, and attitudes (fertility “goals”) became key constructs for demographic research on fertility. In high-fertility contexts, unwanted births and unmet need for contraception serve as a justification for intensifying family planning programs. In low-fertility contexts, desired fertility exceeds actual fertility, implying high prevalence of “unrealized fertility” and inspiring hope that appropriate policies can produce fertility rebound. In both contexts, the increasing focus in the past two decades on reproductive autonomy and reproductive justice centers women’s (and occasionally men’s) own desires and preferences as the foundational concern for policy and programmatic activity. Yet even as fertility goals have gained theoretical and policy importance, many questions remain around conceptualization and measurement of these constructs. We seek to explore the ways fertility goals have been defined and measured; how they have been used in scientific research and in policy applications; the challenges and limitations of these constructs, both theoretical and empirical; what we learn by analyzing fertility goals; and what is missed by centering individual fertility goals.
This series of events will include two webinars in early 2025 and a one-day in-person meeting in Washington, DC, USA on April 10, 2025 (in conjunction with the Population Association of America Annual Meeting).
Webinar 1: Conceptualization and Measurement of Fertility Goals
Thursday, February 27, 2025
12-1:30 pm, Eastern Standard Time (UTC-5)
Monika Mynarska, Institute of Psychology, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw
Corinne Rocca, Ob/Gyn and Reproductive Sciences, University of California-San Francisco
Elizabeth Sully, Guttmacher Institute
Webinar 2: What Fertility Goals Tell Us about Fertility Trends
Monday, March 24, 2025
12-1:30 pm, Eastern Daylight Time (UTC-4)
Éva Beaujouan and Shalini Singh, Department of Demography, University of Vienna
Karen Benjamin Guzzo, Department of Sociology, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
Francis Obare Onyango, Population Council