Page 121 - IJPS-11-3

International Journal of
Population Studies Family policy from a global perspective

were rescaled to values between 0 and 1 and are plotted in policies acknowledge and include pluralistic family forms
Figure 7. EU countries, New Zealand, Australia, and the in institutional support. We examine the cultural basis for
USA tend to disagree with this statement, while respondents family policy instruments that incorporate non-traditional
in Asian, African, and Latin American countries are more family arrangements, such as unmarried couples, single
likely to view a female earning advantage as a problem. parents, and same-sex families.
We assess a country’s progressiveness using Welzel’s The first indicator is based on the question: “Please tell
sub-index on gender equality, which includes attitudes on me for each of the following actions whether you think it
women’s employment (“When jobs are scarce, men should can always be justified, never be justified, or something in
have more right to a job than women”), education (“A between, using this card: Sex before marriage.” A 10-point
university education is more important for a boy than for a scale, ranging from never to always justifiable, has been
girl”), and politics (“On the whole, men make better political rescaled to values between 0 and 1. In many Asian countries,
leaders than women do”) (Welzel, 2013). Examination of the particularly Jordan, Qatar, and Bangladesh, nearly all
sub-index EQUALITY, rescaled to the range of 0 – 1, reveals respondents consider sex before marriage unacceptable
that European countries, Australia, New Zealand, and North and never justified (Figure 9). African countries, such as
America exhibit more gender-egalitarian opinions. Latin Libya, Tunisia, and others, also tend to hold extremely
America, particularly Puerto Rico, also ranks relatively high restrictive views on pre-marital sexual relationships. On
on this index (Figure 8). Asian countries, with Pakistan at the opposite side of the spectrum are countries where sex
the bottom, and African countries stand out for maintaining before marriage is mostly viewed as justified. European
high levels of gender inequality in these domains. countries, such as Sweden, Slovenia, Germany, the
Netherlands, and Andorra are among the most permissive
3.4. Openness toward diverse family forms societies in this respect, followed by New Zealand and
The question is not solely about how family policy can Australia. Latin America occupies a more central position
support or hinder the life scripts of wives/mothers and in the distribution, with Uruguay aligning with European
husbands/fathers; it also concerns whether governmental and Oceanian states in its permissive attitudes.

Figure 6. Domestic role of women: When the mother works for pay, the children suffer. Note: Higher score: Stronger disagreement. Source: World
Values Survey.

Volume 11 Issue 3 (2025) 115 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.1993