The article serves a double goal. First it briefly reviews the most important literature on the fertility decline in Flanders. Secondly, it pleas for a specific research topic, namely the role of urban female domestic servants in the diffusion of fertility control behaviour in urban and rural areas.
A. Literature on the ...
(Show more)The article serves a double goal. First it briefly reviews the most important literature on the fertility decline in Flanders. Secondly, it pleas for a specific research topic, namely the role of urban female domestic servants in the diffusion of fertility control behaviour in urban and rural areas.
A. Literature on the fertility decline in Flanders
Lesthaeghe is in 1977 the first to examine the fertility decline in Belgium. Making use of aggregate data, his multivariate analysis shows a great difference between Flanders and Wallonia and stresses the importance of industrialisation/urbanisation, but especially of language and secularisation. Since Lesthaeghe, new methodologies and more advanced computing techniques have been developed. For the Walloon part of Belgium, a range of articles are dedicated to the fertility transition. For Flanders one must cite Van Bavel (2002). This author uses individual data to investigate the conceptual distinction between ‘natural’ and ‘controlled’ fertility and the spread of contraceptive methods among the population. Van Bavels work is a case study on Leuven. The underlying assumption here is that the European fertility decline has some overall characteristics that can be studied anywhere. We believe it is important to bear in mind the regional context and to take on a comparative perspective. No recent studies are so far available to compare the ‘average’ case of Leuven with pioneering regions or laggards. As early as 1907 though, the demographer Camille Jacquart, noted the remarkable straggling position of some areas in the province of East- and West-Flanders. Data collected on that region by local historians and history students in the past decennia indeed allow to refine some of Lesthaeghes and Van Bavels assumptions.
B. Literature on the role of female domestic servants in the fertility decline
What we are interested in here is the way in which female domestic servants in cities take over contraceptive thoughts and behaviour from their masters and export them to the working classes in the cities and on the countryside. J.A. Banks (1954, 1965, 1981) first puts forward the hypothesis that maids play a role in the diffusion process of fertility control behaviour. Others (Poelstra 1996, Van Bavel 2002) have reintroduced it. Empirical evidence, however, is sparse. Some authors did use data to criticize Banks’ assumption (Woods 1987, Szreter 1996) but none of them surpass the aggregate level. We argue that the use of individual data, now considered condition sine qua non in the study of human behaviour, point in the direction of Banks’ hypothesis.
C. Arguments on the role of female domestic servants in the fertility decline
Timing: urban female domestic service is at its highest around 1880. Substantial amounts of rural unmarried females work in the city as domestic servant at least once in their live. That is exactly the time when the fertility decline takes off in Belgium. A considerable percentage of urban maids returns to the countryside. Thus, a certain impact is at least possible. Literature shows a lot of indirect arguments: maids take over the language, clothing, … of their employers (Roche 1978, De Metsenaere 1995). But most important: the little research that has been done on the subject shows that former urban domestic servants have less children than their non-servant counterparts (Matthys 2003, De Langhe) and that they are amongst the earliest in the working classes to apply controlling behaviour (Van Bavel 2002).
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