Gendered Spaces of Reproduction

While most European countries have experienced very low fertility for a long period, the TFR in Norway has increased since the mid-1980s and is now among the highest in Europe. Paradoxically, during the same period childlessness among men has also grown. More men live without children and the “child environment” is increasingly gendered. This paper concentrates on young people’s “child environment” through a gender perspective. The paper analyses semi-structured interviews of 90 Norwegian women and men in their prime reproductive ages (25-40 years), with and without children, from upper middle and working classes during 2010. The network analysis focuses on the role of friends in particular, emphasising the concepts of social influence and social learning (Mische, 2011; Rossier and Bernardi, 2009). The analysis suggests that few men discuss childbearing with in their friendship networks. To childless men with partners her networks seem to have an important social influence also on men’s childbearing. While discussions among men are few, social learning is transmitted through observing changes in the life of male friends with children.