The Influence of Gender Equality within the Family on fertility intention of Women in Urban Areas of Bushehr Province

When the concept of gender is used in explaining fertility it is often confined to changes in education and employment status of women. While an important part of gender equality returns to the family domain. Using multi-stage cluster sampling, 600 eligible women aged 18-44 years were studied in urban areas of Bushehr province. Cluster analysis results showed two different types of gender equality within the family among responsive women. Men's participation in childcare, men's Participation in Home works, men's Participation outside the home (related to home works) and women's participation in family decisions in first type was less than average, while each of the variables mentioned in second type are above average. Results of multivariate analysis showed that -by controlling other research variables- the probability of going to higher parity progression in families with a higher gender equality structure, it is about 2.56 times higher than in families with a lower gender equality structure. According to the results of this study, it can be said that culture and discourse in order to increase gender equality within the family can play an important and decisive role in increasing women's intention fertility.