Declining fertility and the persistent underrepresentation of women in the labour market are key concerns of our time. The fact that they overlap is not fortuitous. Traditionally, women everywhere have faced a conflict in balancing their career ambitions with family responsibilities. Yet, the pressures arising from this conflict vary enormously from one place to another. Existing research has tended to overlook the geographical features of this dilemma, which could result in an inadequate understanding of the issue and lead to ineffective policy responses. This article examines how variations in the quality of regional institutions affect women’s capacity to reconcile career and motherhood and, consequently, gender equality within Europe. Using panel data from 216 regions across 18 European countries, we uncover a positive effect of regional institutional quality on fertility rates, taking into account variations in female employment. Moreover, we show that European regions with better government quality provide a more reliable environment for managing the career/motherhood dilemma often faced by women. In contrast, women living in regions with weaker government institutions are more constrained in both their career and childbearing options.

中文翻译：

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地方政府机构以及女性协调事业和母职的能力


生育率下降和女性在劳动力市场上的代表性持续不足是我们这个时代的主要问题。它们重叠的事实并非偶然。传统上，世界各地的女性在平衡职业抱负和家庭责任方面都面临着冲突。然而，这场冲突带来的压力因地而异。现有的研究往往忽视了这种困境的地理特征，这可能导致对问题的理解不足，并导致无效的政策应对。本文研究了区域机构质量的差异如何影响女性协调职业和母亲身份的能力，从而影响欧洲内部的性别平等。使用来自 18 个欧洲国家 216 个地区的面板数据，我们揭示了区域机构质量对生育率的积极影响，同时考虑到女性就业的变化。此外，我们表明，政府质量较好的欧洲地区为管理女性经常面临的职业/母亲困境提供了更可靠的环境。相比之下，生活在政府机构较弱地区的女性在职业和生育选择方面受到更多限制。