Pathways and obstacles to parenthood among women in same-sex couples in Spain

Diederik  Boertien; Clara Cortina; Mariona Lozano

doi:10.4054/DemRes.2024.50.35

Volume 50 - Article 35 | Pages 1039–1070

Pathways and obstacles to parenthood among women in same-sex couples in Spain

By Diederik Boertien , Clara Cortina, Mariona Lozano

Date received:

9 Jun 2023

Date published:

15 May 2024

Word count:

6630

Keywords:

assisted reproduction, family, fertility desires, LGBTQ, parenthood, same-sex couples

DOI:

10.4054/DemRes.2024.50.35

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Abstract

Background: Even though same-sex couples face clear obstacles to parenthood, little is known about the extent to which preferences and obstacles can explain the lower levels of parenthood among individuals in same-sex couples.

Objective: The objective is to document routes into parenthood and to quantify the gap between observed and desired number of children among women in different-sex and same-sex couples in Spain.

Methods: We use the representative 2018 Spanish fertility survey, which includes 14,556 women, of whom 139 are in a same-sex couple. We use coarsened exact matching techniques to match women across couple types who are identical on a set of observable characteristics.

Results: Less than half of women in a same-sex couple had children by the age of 40, as compared to around 80% of women in a different-sex couple. We do not observe changes in rates of parenthood across cohorts of women in same-sex couples, but do observe changes in the pathways followed. Even though women in same-sex couples have lower levels of desired fertility, the gap between desired and realized fertility is larger for women in same-sex couples than for women in different-sex couples.

Conclusions: Overall, results show that obstacles to parenthood are prevalent among women in both different-sex and same-sex couples, but appear particularly high and persistent for the latter.

Contribution: We are the first to quantify differences in the extent to which parenthood desires are met between women in same-sex and different-sex couples in Spain, using representative data.