Gender Differences in Gender-Role Attitudes: A Comparative Analysis of Taiwan and Coastal China

Abstract

New reproductive technologies have the potential to radicalize family life, as they could blur kinship lines, separate biological and social parenthood, and encourage couples to create ‘designer babies’. On the other hand, these technologies could help more married couples create socially-acceptable nuclear families and reduce unwanted childless marriages. This article uses the ‘stories’ from qualitative interviews with couples seeking fertility treatments in New Zealand to interrogate motives for treatment, gendered experiences with procedures, and views about the future of marriage without children. The interviews show that, despite the potential of medically assisted conception, these participants use reproductive technologies as a vehicle to normality and social acceptance. The results of this study, combined with overseas research, suggest that medically assisted conception could reinforce pronatalism and patriarchal families rather than lead to a future revolution in family life.