The Pursuit of Absolute Gender Equality: The Unintended Consequences of Government Policy on Fertility and Divorce Rates in Post 1960 America

Abstract

The literature around the topic of gender is often focused on the notion that achieving gender equity precedes other considerations regarding social, political, and economic issues. This research work examines the legitimacy of this view and the historical evolution of the social and legal interventions to achieve its agenda. The aim is to explore the historical changes of gender relations at the social, economic and political levels that were instigated by U.S and foreign governments (Japan and the EU) to address the issue of gender inequality. A combination of ethnographic and correlational research methods were used to help achieve this aim, which is to make a prediction regarding the unintended consequences of pursuing absolute gender equality in the U.S. The findings of this research suggest that the equation that led to a military and economic “boom” in the U.S after the Second World War witnessed a drastic change. This drastic change in the variables of the “boom equation” will lead to the emergence of a “doom equation” affected by and affecting fertility and divorce rates.