Basque Families

Basque families are predominantly Catholic, and because of this many people are surprised to learn that the Basque country has the lowest birth rate in Spain, which in turn has one of the lowest fertility rates in the world (Reher 1997). During the regime A Basque family works together processing cheese. Families in rural households of the Basque country are typically multigenerational, sometimes including live-in grandparents. GALEN ROWELL/CORBIS of Francisco Franco, several laws were passed that affected families in many ways. The 1938 Labor Charter prohibited married women from working outside the home, so couples got in the habit of postponing marriage so that the woman might continue to earn an income. The right to work outside the home was restored in 1961 (Jones 1997), but the tendency to marry late remained. At the same time, social pressures strongly discouraged having children out of wedlock.

Educational practices were also changing throughout the twentieth century, and as people became more educated, the birth rate experienced a significant decline. The level of illiteracy in Spain was cut by more than one-half between 1970 and 1992 (Reher 1997; Boyd 1997). Perhaps the biggest impact of education on Basque families at the beginning of the twenty-first century is the decision about which schools the children should attend, a question that often revolves around whether the parents want the children educated in Spanish or in Euskara.

Although families have few children, rural households are still multigenerational, including grandparents, parents, and children. Often, unmarried siblings remain at home until they either marry or seek work elsewhere. This rural model has become less common since the end of the twentieth century, when the majority of the Basque population shifted to urban centers. However, the rural model has great cultural significance in the Basque country and has not lost all of its influence on the modern family.