The birth rate in BRICS countries under the gender inequality in the labor market

[19; 20; 21; 26]

Second, in the past decade Russia, unlike other BRICS countries, presents a direct correlation between the birthrate and gender gap in wages: the closer the level of women's wages to those of men, the higher the birthrate (Table 6).

Third, the comparison between the educational levels of women and fertility in recent decades allows to identify a direct correlation between the indicators, unlike other BRICS countries. For instance, women in Russia strive for equal rights with men, which leads to a certain level of education as well as professional selfrealization, which competes with the need to have several children. Consequently, the number of children drops. The analysis of the census data of 1989, 2002, 2010, and micro-census of 2015 seems to be most informative for they provide information on the educational level of the population (Table 7). Until the 2000s, Russia saw an inverse correlation between the birthrate and higher education among women: the share of women with higher education was surging, the birthrate was declining. However, we saw a simultaneous growth of both indicators since the 2000s, which means their positive correlation. The comparison of the micro-census data (2015) and results of the latest census (2002) is very illustrative: the share of women with higher education doubled, while increased by 30%.

Thus, in recent decades in Russia, the higher birthrate was associated with (1) the higher level of women's engagement in the economy; (2) the greater equality in wages; (3) the higher gender equality in the economic sphere; and (4) the higher share of women with higher education.

According to many sociological studies, women still face the choice between family and professional duties in the BRICS countries. When making decision about carrier, women who refuse paid employment for family employment tend to have a greater number of children. When making a choice in favor of the family and several children, women usually have to leave the sphere of paid employment, which, in turn, results in the lower fertility rates and fewer children in the family. The gender inequality in the labor market of the BRICS countries works as an additional factor that pushes women into family employment, thus, making their choice even more difficult. For this reason, the higher gender equality in the labor market of the BRICS countries as well as an increase in women's employment are accompanied by shrinking fertility.

Wage rates and education are two factors that are closely linked with women's involvement in the labor market. The comparative analysis of the BRICS countries in 2017 shows that there was an inverse correlation between the birthrate, on the one hand, and the level of education and gender gap in wages, on the other. The more a woman is discriminated in the labor market, in particular, concerning her payment, the lower her wages and the more reasonable for her to leave the labor market and to devote herself to the family. The same is proven by the inverse correlation of the birthrate and the level of education in the BRICS countries: the higher educational level of women affects their values and priorities; the higher level of education contributes to the greater emphasis women place on professional development and, consequently, the family becomes of smaller importance, and vice versa.

The inverse correlation between the women's involvement in the labor market and the birthrate is explained by the fact that the BRICS consists primarily of developing counties. Russia and China -- transitional economies -- are the only exceptions, according to the IMF. For some developing countries the demographic transition is yet not completed, and these societies demonstrate an inverse correlation of the birthrate and the mentioned above factors. Thus, the gender discrimination in Russia has a different impact on the birthrate as compared to other BRICS countries. Russia has experienced either parallel growth or decline of the birthrate and the level of employment in recent decades: women's engagement in labor relations today is the factor contributing to the higher birthrate [16; 18]. This can be stipulated by both the completed the demographic transition in the late 20th century and the traditionally higher level of employment of women. The development of labor relations in the USSR (and Russia as its successor state) was aimed at maximization of women involvement in the economic sphere for the increase in production and improvement of economic performance of the state during the post-war recovery of the country. We should note that in 1990--2017 the share of women in the gender structure of the labor market did not change substantially (it went up by 1%) [24--26]. Thus, the Russian labor market offers nearly equal opportunities to both gender groups, and women find it much easier to combine family life and professional employment as compared to other BRICS countries.

However, the reasons why Russian women choose the paid employment differ considerably from other countries and Western Europe in particular. For many women this choice is largely motivated by the need to support their family: the income of one wage-earner usually is not enough to provide for the whole family even with one child, which pushes women into the labor market. The gender gap in wages is another factor contributing to women's employment. Russia saw a narrowing gender gap in wages in the last decade, which was largely determined by the reduction of the active working- age population: the small generation born during the deep economic crisis in the 1990s was becoming a workforce, while the larger generation born in the 1960s was retiring. This led to a workforce deficit, and employers had to cover it by higher wages for women, which are now close to men's wages. This explains to a great extent the direct correlation between the gender gap in wages and fertility: the closer the levels of payment to men and women, the higher the birthrate.

The correlation between the birthrate and the level of education in Russia also differs substantially from other BRICS countries: a larger share of women with higher education has more children. The educational level and the level of employment are the factors contributing to fertility. The causes that led to the change in the correlation between the educational level and birthrate are comparable with those that affected the level of women's employment. The correlation between the educational level and fertility (TFR) was negative before demographic transition and is positive after its completion.

Gender discrimination in the labor market that includes a range of interrelated factors, is one of the crucial determinants of fertility. The country's social and economic development and peculiarities of its demography, in particular the completion of the demographic transition, determine these correlations. For instance, factors associated with women's employment, such as the gender gap in economy, women's wages as compared with those for men, and higher education level of women have a negative impact on the birthrate in BRICS, which consists mainly of developing countries, while in Russia, which is a country with transitional economy, according to the IMF methodology, the impact is positive. This represents a paradox of the contemporary labor market: on the one hand, a greater gender equality makes it easier for women to combine family employment and career resulting in more children in the family. On the other hand, the same contributes to the decline in the possibility to have several children, which becomes specifically relevant for future generations of women. Thus, the number of children per family declines despite the gender equality policy.

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