International Seminar on Inequalities along the Reproductive Trajectory (call for papers)

Despite significant medical advancements and improvements in global health, the journey to and through parenthood remains profoundly stratified by socioeconomic status, migrant background, ethnicity, or adscription to a racialized minority. Recent literature highlights how socioeconomically disadvantaged and minority populations face a higher biological prevalence of reproductive challenges and are significantly less likely to access healthcare services. The structural forces shaping these disparities can act cumulatively across the entire reproductive trajectory. Delayed transitions to adulthood driven by labor market precarity and late housing independence push individuals to postpone childbearing. This significantly increases the risk of age-related infertility and contributes to a significant "fertility gap," where sizable proportions of individuals abandon their fertility intentions or fail to achieve their desired family size.

Simultaneously, social inequalities extend deeply into pregnancy, perinatal, and postnatal outcomes. Disadvantaged groups suffer disproportionately from adverse events such as miscarriage, stillbirth, ectopic pregnancies, and poorer postnatal health. Literature suggests that cumulative exposure to social adversity and systemic discrimination compromises reproductive and maternal health. Furthermore, macroeconomic and environmental shocks exacerbate the risk of adverse perinatal outcomes like low birthweight, with socioeconomic variables acting as potential buffering or reinforcing factors. These vulnerabilities can carry over into the postnatal period, shaping inequalities in maternal recovery, mental health, and early childhood outcomes.

This two-day international seminar, organized within the framework of the project INTRAREPRO (PID2023-151383OA-I00 funded by MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by ERDF/EU), aims to bring together researchers from demography, sociology, social epidemiology and other public health disciplines to discuss these inequalities, the complex mechanisms driving these, and protective factors. We seek to foster an interdisciplinary dialogue on how social, economic, and institutional contexts shape the reproductive trajectory—from fertility intentions to postnatal realities—in different societies. both Spanish and international contexts.

Themes and Topics of Interest

We welcome theoretical, methodological, and empirical contributions (quantitative, qualitative or using mixed methods) using national or cross-national data from any country/countries. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
    • Social Vulnerabilities and Fertility: Social gradients in fecundability, primary/secondary infertility prevalence, and barriers to treatment-seeking or medical assistance.
    • The "Fertility Gap" and Delayed Transitions: The disconnect between fertility desires, intentions, and actual behaviors or outcomes, and how labor market instability and economic precarity force individuals to delay or abandon their reproductive aspirations.
    • Access to and Outcomes of Medically Assisted Reproduction (MAR/ART): Inequalities in the utilization of public vs. private fertility services, the impact of insurance mandates, access to different treatments, and the role of education and income in treatment success.
    • Inequalities in Obstetric and Perinatal Health: Social determinants of early pregnancy loss (miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy), stillbirth, preterm birth, low and high birthweight, neonatal mortality, etc., including exposure to macroeconomic shocks or environmental stressors.
    • Disparities in Postnatal Outcomes: The lingering effects of social vulnerability on the postnatal period, including inequalities in maternal postpartum health, postpartum depression, reconciliation of work and family life, and early infant health gradients.
    • Intersectionality and Cumulative Disadvantage: How chronic stress, systemic racism, environmental exposures (e.g., air pollution), and other factors impact the entire reproductive and maternal trajectory and reinforce each other.

Submission Guidelines

We invite researchers to submit a short abstract (500 words max) outlining their proposal’s research question, theoretical framework, methodology, and preliminary findings. Please include author name(s), affiliation(s), and email address(es) in the body of the abstract text when making your submission.

Link for submissions

Key Dates

   • Deadline for Abstract Submission: October 9, 2026
   • Notification of Acceptance: October 16, 2026
   • Seminar Dates: December 3 – 4, 2026 (CCHS CSIC, Madrid, Spain)

Practical information

Please note that participants will have to cover their own accommodation and meal expenses. Only coffee breaks will be provided free of charge. There are no registration fees.

Coordinated by: Marta Seiz (IEGD-CSIC)

Organized by: INTRAREPRO Project (PID2023-151383OA-I00 funded by MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by ERDF/EU)