DIFFICULTIES IN MEASURING SAME

DIFFICULTIES IN MEASURING SAME-SEX PARENTING
The notion of same-sex parenting, which did not exist 20 years ago, was brought into the
public arena in France by the debate on the creation of a civil partnership in 1998-1999, by
militant associations such as l’Association des parents gays et lesbiens (Association of gay
and lesbian parents, APGL) and by the trend towards recognition of same-sex couples and
parents in other countries. The topic has attracted growing interest among social scientists
over the past decade. Research in this field is based on legal approaches or
qualitativesociology, but same-sex parenting is still difficult to quantify due to a lack of
suitable tools.
Various configurations of the homoparentales families
A same-sex family is made up of a parent or couple who openly identify as homosexual and one or more children
who are legally filiated to at least one of the parents(1). Same-sex parenting encompasses multiple situations that
the social sciences wish to better identify in order to broaden understanding of this type of family setup and
contribute to current debate.
Certain same-sex families are stepfamilies resulting from previous heterosexual unions. Others are the planned
outcome of a desire for children on the part of a gay individual or a homosexual couple. These plans can involve
adoption (on an individual basis as required by French law(2)), insemination by donor(3), or surrogacy (currently
illegal in France). Co-parenting applies to situations where the plan to found a family involves several people (among
whom at least one is homosexual) who agree to have a child together and to raise it conjointly. This is the case when
the project involves a gay couple and a lesbian couple, or just one homosexual individual/couple and a third party.
This diversity of situations is particularly challenging to the social sciences. Two tools can be used to statistically
capture the prevalence of same-sex parenting: the census and large scale quantitative surveys in the general
population. Each have their limitations.
The population census, only a partial solution
Systematic population enumeration through the census should, in theory, provide a means to count same-sex
families, using co-residing couples of the same sex as a criterion.
In 1999, 0.3% of couples comprised two people of the same sex who identified as a couple. An additional 0.6% who
reported being «friends» of the same sex did not explicitly identify as a couple, but probably were one. (Digoix, Festy,
Garnier, 2004; Festy, 2006). In total, an estimated 1% of all couples in France are co-residing same-sex couples, a
similar proportion to that of neighbouring countries.
Positing that one homosexual couple in ten lives with children, and that on average these couples have two children
(as in heterosexual couples), P. Festy estimates that in 2005 between 24,000 and 40,000 children lived with a
homosexual couple, with a majority of these couples being women.
However, this estimation is biased towards the configuration that the census identifies most easily (same-sex couples
living in the same residence). Non-cohabiting couples, and children who live elsewhere are not taken into account.
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General population surveys : insufficient sample sizes
General population surveys include a wider range of questions than the census. The questionnaires are more specific
and can record useful details to capture the diversity of same-sex family setups. The Contexte de la sexualité en
France (Context of sexuality in France, CSF) survey by INED and INSERM in 2005-2006 asked the respondents both
their sex and that of their partner, if they had children, and if they lived with them or with those of their partner. The
survey identified homosexual parents who were not co-resident and same-sex parenting setups where the parents
were not a couple. However, considering the rarity of these configurations, the survey sample (though it exceeded
10,000 people), only included a few same-sex family setups, too small in number to represent the true diversity of
configurations. In fact, while the CSF survey confirms that homosexual couples represent 1% of the total number of
couples (co-residing or not), it cannot isolate the same-sex families who represent only a minority of this minority,
meaning only a handful of people at most.
Between a census that is too vague and the surveys that are too
limited, what are the other solutions?
One possible future solution would be to adapt the family survey conducted in association with the population
census since 1954. The last edition, in 1999, included 380,000 people. INED and INSEE are currently working on a new
edition planned for 2011 which takes same-sex family setups into account through new questions: gender of the
respondent’s «partner» or «friend», precise information on their respective children,civil partnerships (PACS), the
existence of non co-residing couples, and possible multiple residence of their children. The information obtained in
this way will shed light on the key dimensions of same-sex family setups with the same clarity as for other family
types.
Demographic fact sheet published in 2009. The last investigation “Family”, renamed “Family and
residences”, proceeded in 2011 (Ined, INSEE).
Wilfried Rault
POUR EN SAVOIR +
Bajos N., Beltzer N., 2008, « Les sexualités homobisexuelles : d’une acceptation de principe aux vulnérabilités sociales et préventives » in
Bajos N., Bozon M. (dir.), 2008, Enquête sur la sexualité en France. Sexualité, genre et conditions de vie, Paris, La Découverte, p. 243-271
Digoix M., Festy P., Garnier B., 2004, « What if same-sex couples exist after all ? » in Digoix M., Festy P. (éd.), Same-sex couples, same-se
partnerships and homosexual marriages. A focus on cross national differentials, Ined, coll. « Documents de travail » n° 124, p. 193-210.
Festy P., 2006, « Le recensement des familles homoparentales », in Cadoret A., Gross M., Mécary C., Perreau B. (dir.), Homoparentalités
Approches scientifiques et politiques, Paris, Puf, p. 109-116.
Rault W., 2009, L’invention du Pacs. Pratiques et symboliques d’une nouvelle forme d’union, Paris, Presses de Sciences Po, 268 p.
Toulemon L., Vitrac J., Cassan S., 2005, « Le difficile comptage des couples homosexuels d’après l’enquête EHF », in Lefèvre C., Filhon A.
(dir.), Histoires de familles, histoires familiales. Les résultats de l’enquête Famille de 1999, Paris, Ined (Cahier n° 156), p. 589-602.
Institut national d’études démographiques • 133, bld Davout 75 980 Paris cedex 20 • www.ined.fr