窄化女性、隱形男性？性別化的國家生育統計

Narrowing Women and Invisiblizing Men? Gendered Fertility Statistics in Taiwan

本研究探討國家生育統計的性別政治。本文分析對象為台灣政府例行產製的三大生育統計：以出生證明為基礎的出生通報統計、以戶籍出生登記為基礎的人口統計，以及以問卷進行的家庭與生育調查。我們考察其資料搜集、指標建立、詮釋以及使用等環節，如何操作性別概念，再現什麼樣的生育圖像。我們發現，由出生證明書建立的生育統計，以新生兒而非產婦為主體，缺乏呈現包括產婦的年齡分布以及產婦的剖腹產率等資料。戶籍資料僅要求填寫女性的「胎次」，形同將生育局限於生理意義上的生殖，僅計算女性第一胎平均年齡。《人口統計》自1972 年即建立了一些男性生育指標，但是政府制定人口政策時卻鮮少使用。生育調查自1965 年創始以來，長達40 多年僅將育齡女性作為抽樣對象，排除男性。即使於2012 年開始納入男性樣本，卻要求男性評價對於女性理想生育年齡，忽略詢問男性第一次當爸爸的時間，以及男性自身對於伴侶流產、懷孕、生產的感受與經驗。台灣的三大生育統計仍普遍有「窄化女性、隱形男性」的特性。生育想像局限於生理上的生殖運作，成為形塑統計產製的核心邏輯。這使得台灣的生育統計仍將生育限縮為孕產的男女分工，複製女性單方面承擔生育的刻板圖像，在延遲親職等現象欠缺男性資料，制定人口政策亦難以男性生育統計作為佐證。本文根據國際作法，提出修改台灣生育統計的政策建言。

This paper examines the gender politics surrounding national fertility statistics in Taiwan. We analyze three major fertility registries and surveys: the live birth registry based on birth certificates, the vital statistics based on household registration, and family and fertility surveys. Our aim is to explore how data collection, sampling, instrument design, interpretation and use of these fertility statistics conceptualize gender and reproduction. Our analysis reveals that the live birth data reporting centers on the statistics of newborns, and neglects to produce data centered on birthing women, such as age distribution and the cesarean rate per delivery. The household registry data only requires women to report the number of times they have given birth, leading to the calculation of the average age of firsttime mothers without accounting for fathers. The Demographic Fact Book has included some male fertility statistics since 1972, but the government seldom utilizes them for population policy-making. The National Family and Fertility Survey, initiated in 1965, sampled women of reproductive age for more than 40 years and only began to include men in 2012. However, some of the survey questions asked men to evaluate the ideal biological age of women to give birth while neglecting to ask about men’s age of first-time fatherhood and their experiences regarding their partners’ miscarriage, pregnancy and birth. We conclude that Taiwan’s national fertility statistics largely give a narrowed view of women, while making men invisible. We argue that the reproductive imaginary behind the making of statistics remains focused on the biological aspect of reproduction. Governmental data confines reproduction to the sexual division of procreative labor, implying women bear the sole responsibility. We propose that Taiwan should follow some international practices to incorporate both men’s and women’s reproductive beliefs and experiences covering biological, social, and cultural dimensions to better assess the changing fertility patterns and make more inclusive population policies.