Postgraduate seminar by Linna Fu and Gabriella Leelee Enchill

Dear colleagues, we invite you to participate in a PhD seminar on December 19th, 6:00 PM featuring IL SIR graduate students Linna Fu and Gabriella Leelee Enchill. The seminar is held as part of the International Laboratory for Social Integration Research's seminar program.

Linna Fu, topic: “Digital Protectionism In Russia: Economic Motivation And Institutional Change” — 6:00 PM (18:00)

Abstract of Linna Fu’s presentation:

In the wake of a record-low fertility rate and an aging population crisis, China has entered an era of demographic reckoning. The relaxation of the one-child policy, first to a universal two-child policy in 2016, then to a three-child policy with supportive measures in 2021, has not resulted in the expected fertility rebound. At the same time, Chinese women have experienced rapid gains in education, income, and political participation. Yet, birth rates continue to decline. This dissertation investigates the empirical relationship between women’s empowerment and fertility outcomes in contemporary China, while critically evaluating how shifting policy regimes shape this dynamic.

Using panel and cross-sectional microdata from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) and the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS), the empirical studies construct three composite indices to capture the multidimensional nature of empowerment: economic (income, job stability, asset ownership), educational (absolute attainment, returns to education and life-course autonomy), and political (household decision-making power and more civic engagement). These indices are validated through factor analysis and applied across policy regimes from 2010 to 2020.

The analysis proceeds in three empirical stages. First, descriptive and temporal analyses confirm that women’s empowerment (across all three dimensions)has increased steadily over the past decade, with notable cohort differences and urban-rural gaps. Second, multivariate models assess the direct impact of empowerment on fertility intentions and realized fertility. Results show that economic empowerment is negatively associated with fertility, particularly among urban, highly educated women, suggesting that opportunity cost continues to dominate childbearing decisions. Educational attainment is associated with a postponement effect, consistent with the tempo disruption seen in other low-fertility societies. Political empowerment, proxied by intra-household bargaining power, exhibits a nuanced effect: women with higher bargaining scores are more likely to express reluctance toward childbearing in unequal domestic arrangements. Third, interaction models demonstrate that the relationship between empowerment and fertility is significantly moderated by policy regime. Notably, the empowerment-fertility link weakens slightly in the post-2016 period, but only among women with low perceived work-family conflict. Among working mothers facing dual burdens, the policy reforms did little to change fertility calculus.

This dissertation contributes empirical clarity to ongoing debates over gender, reproduction, and state policy in East Asia. It provides policymakers with evidence that structural gender inequality, not policy permissiveness per se, Nremains the primary bottleneck to fertility recovery. Simply allowing more births is not enough. Future pronatalist strategies must focus on redistributing care work, enforcing gender-equal labor protections, and embedding empowerment as a substantive, not symbolic, objective. Without these measures, fertility will remain decoupled from policy design, and women—despite their formal empowerment—will continue to opt out.

Scientific supervisor:

Elena R. Iarskaia-Smirnova — Doctor of Sociological Sciences, PhD, Professor, Head of the International Laboratory for Social Integration Research at the HSE University

Discussants:

1. Vasily A. Anikin - Candidate of Economic Sciences, PhD, Associate Professor of the Department of Sociology at the National Research University Higher School of Economics; Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Stratification Studies at the Institute of Social Policy at the National Research University Higher School of Economics

2. Svetlana S. Biryukova - Candidate of Economic Sciences, Associate Professor at the Institute of Social Policy at the National Research University Higher School of Economics; Chief Research Fellow at the Centre for Comprehensive Social Policy Studies at the Institute of Social Policy at the National Research University Higher School of Economics

3. Mohammed Yassir Ali Osman - Postgraduate student at the Vishnevsky Institute of Demography; Research Assistant at the Scientific and Educational Laboratory of Socio-Demographic Policy at the Vishnevsky Institute of Demography

Gabriella Leelee Enchilll, topic: “ Gender Arrangements of Women's Capabilities in Contemporary Ghana: On the Example of the Kwabre East District” — 7:00 PM (19:00)

Abstract of Gabriella Leelee Enchilll’s presentation:

With the use of mixed method, the study supports feminist research goals by uncovering subjugated knowledge, providing detailed context to statistical findings, and fostering a more holistic view of how structural, cultural, and individual factors intersect to shape women’s empowerment and agency (Carvalho, 2022; Hesse-Biber, 2012). The combining of quantitative measures such as labor market participation and vulnerable employment statistics with qualitative lived experiences from rural women in Kwabre East District and that of experts, the study captures both the scale and depth of gender inequality issues more effectively than single-method approaches (Cresswell, 2011; Johnson & Onwuegbuzie, 2004).

Scientific supervisor:

Elena R. Iarskaia-Smirnova — Doctor of Sociological Sciences, PhD, Professor, Head of the International Laboratory for Social Integration Research at the HSE University

 

Discussants:

1) Marina Vyacheslavovna Chernysheva, Candidate in Sociological Science, Senior Research Fellow at the ILSIR, Associate Professor at the Department of Economic Sociology, Department of Sociology, Higher School of Economics

2) Anastasia Anatolyevna Poretskova, Candidate in Political Science, Associate Professor at the International Institute of Economics and Finance, Associate Professor at the Department of Politics and Management, Faculty of Social Sciences, Higher School of Economics

For reporting purposes to our university, we need to compile a list of event participants. Therefore, we kindly ask you to fill out this form (https://forms.yandex.ru/u/693c37616d2d733b546c5c5b) in either Russian or English, whichever is convenient for you. Thank you!