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Unattainable Desires? Childbearing Capabilities in Early 21st-Century Hungary

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Childbearing, Women’s Employment and Work-Life Balance Policies in Contemporary Europe

Part of the book series: Work and Welfare in Europe ((RECOWE))

Abstract

This chapter addresses the issue of weak capabilities for having and caring for children in Budapest as being reflected by the views of 100 working parents on their fertility-related desires. Capabilities are understood as the freedom to achieve valued functionings; in our case that is the parents’ notions of the real opportunities they have regarding the (family) life they may lead (Sen, 1987), more specifically, being a working parent with as many children as they would like to have. The aim of my study is to highlight the many ways in which Hungarian parents’ fertility-related capabilities are constrained, which can be detected not only in their achieved fertility, but also already at the level of their desired family size.

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  1. Judit Takács
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Stockholm University, Sweden

    Livia Sz. Oláh

  2. Warsaw School of Economics, Poland

    Ewa Frątczak

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© 2013 Judit Takács

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Takács, J. (2013). Unattainable Desires? Childbearing Capabilities in Early 21st-Century Hungary. In: Oláh, L.S., Frątczak, E. (eds) Childbearing, Women’s Employment and Work-Life Balance Policies in Contemporary Europe. Work and Welfare in Europe. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137318541_6

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