The Division of Labor for Society's Reproduction: On the Concentration of Childbearing and Rearing in Austria

Using data from the birth history of the German-Austrian census of 1939 and recent Austrian sample surveys, changes in the distribution and concentration of fertility are analyzed from the beginning of the century up to completed parity distributions implied by current period fertility. The extent of concentration is described by Lorenz curves and "havehalf" statistics as well as by the difference between mothers' and children's mean family sizes. Generally, declining fertility was accompanied by increasing concentration while the baby boom period saw unprecedented low concentration. The labor of rearing children is even more concentrated than fertility, especially when men's participation in childcare is taken into account.

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