Família igualitária: da subalternização paternal ao declínio da natalidade

The demographic transition in the developed countries has gained increasing relevance in the domain of public policies, due to the great challenges it presents to the sustainability of social and political order. In addition to the concern with current demographic trends, public policies have followed a programmatic preference in favor of the autonomy of individuals in relation to family ties and dependencies, with the special objective of encouraging female emancipation. So, the public policies have relegated the male breadwinner model to an outdated and undesirable past. Using an essential concept of this theme, we can say that public policies have followed the path of the so-called «defamilisation». Considering that the effectiveness of current natalist-oriented family policies remains to be proven, compromising demographic renewal in European countries, this study aims to question and help to clarify - with contributions from public policies, demography, family economy, sociology and sociobiology – whether higher birth rates may be dependent on the existence of reciprocity and intra-family functional differentiation.