Page 126 - IJPS-11-3

International Journal of
Population Studies Family policy from a global perspective

4. Discussion indices involving secularization and autonomy exhibit a
similar trend, with African countries scoring low, Latin
The aim of this study is to descriptively identify values and America in the mid-range, and Western countries in the
attitudes expressed in the WVS and connect them to various high range. Asian societies are diverse, with Islamic Asian
underlying dimensions that presumably influence family countries sharing similarities with Africa, and East Asian
policies. Mapping family policy configurations worldwide countries aligning more closely with Western societies.
and linking them directly to cultural patterns is beyond However, the composite index on gender equality paints
the scope of this study. Nonetheless, it is worth noting that a different picture. Latin American countries are moving
on a smaller scale, Tonelli et al. (2021) have found that
typical cultural traditions and values are associated with higher on the gender equality index ranking, displaying
specific child-related family policy configurations in East more similarities with Western societies. Meanwhile, no
and Southeast Asia. They argue that country clusters with Asian country scores high on this indicator; they align
specific family policy configurations differ in their levels with African countries, displaying a low gender equality
of secularization, views on values that families should index. Still, when specific indicators are examined, the neat
transmit to their children, and gender-egalitarian values. pattern of Western societies scoring high on gender equality
However, they conclude that more comprehensive policy is disrupted. Many European and other Western societies
measures are primarily related to concerns about fertility consider the position of a housewife as fulfilling as working
levels (Tonelli et al., 2021), implicitly aimed at increasing for pay, while numerous African countries strongly disagree.
fertility through family policy instruments. Therefore, Housewifery systems are deeply ingrained in the cultural
we also assess societal attitudes related to population fabric of Western societies, leading to women’s economic
development and fertility concerns. dependency and justifying family policy instruments in
support of the traditional male breadwinner family model.
Our study encompasses a broad range of countries
with diverse levels of socioeconomic development, Emancipative values also reveal greater cultural acceptance
modernization, cultural traditions, and value systems. and tolerance of alternative lifestyles and new family forms
By describing and ranking countries based on attitudes in Western societies and lower approval in African and
and values expressed in the WVS, our goal is to identify many Asian societies. This cultural acceptance and tolerance
value patterns that can aid our understanding of the applies to divorce, abortion, homosexuality, and particularly
various scopes and orientations of family policy measures sex before marriage, which is widely accepted in Europe and
worldwide. We examine country-specific distributions Oceania but not justifiable in large parts of Africa and Asia.
of responses in the WVS and employ composite indices However, Europeans often disagree that homosexual couples
for emancipative and secular values, which have been can be as good parents as other couples, drawing a line
theoretically explained and empirically tested for cross- between personal freedom and family arrangements when it
cultural reliability and validity in Welzel (2013). However, comes to new family forms involving children.
we cannot explicitly test the association between cultural For the sake of simplicity, we present the results grouped
values and actual policy instruments.
by continents. However, these findings broadly correspond
To summarize the major findings, the perceived to Therborn’s (2014) typology of family systems. Following
importance of family remains very high worldwide, with no this typology considerably helps in interpreting several
noticeable decline over time. However, there is significant observations in the figures. For example, there is significant
variation in perceptions regarding responsibility for elderly diversity among Asian societies across various indicators.
family members. New Zealand and Australia lead in terms In his world family system, Therborn (2014) distinguishes
of defamiliarization, but countries in Asia, Europe, and Latin between South Asian, Confucian East Asian, and Southeast
America vary widely along the defamiliarization scale. On Asian types of families. In addition, he groups Islamic West
the other hand, African and some Asian countries, including Asian families with North African families. These divisions
China, emphasize traditional intergenerational family and similarities are reflected in several indicators from
solidarity and a strong familialist orientation, potentially the WVS. Likewise, we observe the divide between sub-
indicating a less perceived need for comprehensive family Saharan African and North African family patterns, the
policy measures. It is unclear from these descriptive data latter being much closer to the Islamic West Asian model.
whether value change precedes the expansion of public services However, it is important to note that while this alignment
for the elderly or if emerging state support influences value is observed in several WVS indicators, it is not consistently
change and cultural perceptions of family responsibilities. reflected in all indices. Furthermore, not all family systems
The shift away from traditional values is more (e.g., the Creole family system) can be accurately mapped
pronounced in some world regions than others. Composite using WVS data, as the data primarily encompass entire

Volume 11 Issue 3 (2025) 120 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.1993