Fertility among Austrian female scientists

Isabella Buber-Ennser, Vienna Institute of Demography

The study aims to investigate the fertility among Austrian female scientists. In particular, it is the fertility and family behaviour of highly-educated women with scientific career aspirations which is the primary focus of our paper. The analysis is based on an additional sample of the Generations and Gender Survey (GGS) in Austria including women under the age of 45 years who applied for a scholarship at the Austrian Academy of Sciences. The sample size of 247 women allows to analyse in detail fertility intentions, ideal number of children and family formation of female scientists as well as comparisons to Austrian women in general, but also to women with tertiary education. The results of our study will help to learn more about fertility patterns and aspirations of scientific women in Austria and might reveal family policy strategies that facilitate scientific women having the number of children they desire.