The big idea: Gender equality and fertility are tightly linked.
When women gain education, jobs and rights, families tend to have fewer children — so fertility falls.
Governments then use population policies either to raise births (pro-natal) or lower them (anti-natal), and many also run policies to advance gender equality.
Key terms
- Fertility rate — the average number of children a woman has during her lifetime.
- Gender equality — women and men having equal rights, opportunities and status.
- Pro-natal policy — a policy that encourages more births (e.g. baby bonuses, parental leave).
- Anti-natal policy — a policy that discourages births to slow population growth.
Turning women's status into lower fertility
- Education — girls who stay in school marry later and have children later, shortening the childbearing years.
- Paid work — women in careers face an opportunity cost to having children, so they choose smaller families.
- Decision-making power — when women control household choices, they can plan and limit family size.
- Health & family planning — better access to contraception lets women choose to have fewer children.
Suggest two reasons why fertility rates fall when women's status improves.
Model answer plan
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Develop the point: Suggest/Explain needs development — don't just say 'women are educated'; say educated -> marry later -> fewer children.
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Two kinds of policy: Governments manage natural population change with pro-natal policies (to raise low fertility) or anti-natal policies (to slow fast growth). Many also run gender-equality policies, which often lower fertility as a side effect.
Real examples (named, original wording)
- France — generous parental leave and child benefits (pro-natal) to lift a low fertility rate.
- Singapore — switched from anti-natal in the 1970s to pro-natal incentives once fertility fell too far.
- Rwanda — legal quotas put women in over half of parliament seats, advancing gender equality.
- Bangladesh — community family-planning workers raised contraception use and lowered fertility.
Set out two distinct policies that governments or societies use to advance gender equality and explain how each works.
Model answer plan
See the mark-by-mark plan — for / against / judgement, with marking guidance — in study mode.
How this is tested: A gender-equality infographic — bars or percentages for women in work, education, STEM and politics — is the usual stimulus here.
The figure first asks for quick reads: Estimate a share off a bar and Determine a missing percentage (e.g. 100 − 70). You then Explain a suitable presentation technique and finally Evaluate how well the evidence backs a claim such as 'this country has achieved gender equality'.
Read the axis first. Each bar is the % of that group who are women — the rest are men.
Interactive diagram
Explore the labelled diagram, charts and maps for this topic in full study mode.
Estimate the share of public-sector workers who are women, and determine the share of graduates who are men.
Model answer plan
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| Indicator | Value |
|---|---|
| Women working in the public sector | 66% |
| University graduates who are women | 70% |
| University graduates who are men | 30% |
| Women among STEM graduates | 56% |
| Women in the national parliament | 50% |
IB-style question — read the infographic
Using the data above: (a) estimate the share of women working in the public sector [1]; (b) determine the percentage of university graduates who are men [1]; (c) suggest one presentation technique to display the graduate split [2].
How to answer each part
- (a) Estimate the public-sector share. Read the row -> about 66% of public-sector workers are women.
- (b) Determine the male graduate share. Women are 70% of graduates, so men are 100 - 70 = 30%.
- (c) Suggest a technique. A pie chart (or divided bar) shows the 70%/30% split as proportions of a whole, so the gender gap is seen at a glance.
Final answer
(a) ~66%; (b) 30%; (c) a pie or divided bar chart, because it shows each share as part of the whole.
Evaluate how well the infographic evidence backs up a government's claim that the country has achieved gender equality.
Model answer plan
See the mark-by-mark plan — for / against / judgement, with marking guidance — in study mode.