Here is a very sobering piece on declining population rates and the ramifications for the future.
There is one potential beneficial outcome -- the increasing conservatization (yes, I know it's a created word) of society, because socially conservative women are more likely to have more children than liberal ones. The phenomenon is like the "Roe effect," where young people may be trending pro-life because, obviously, they are living proof that their mothers were pro-life.
At the heart of the problem, in a sense, is the upward trend of lifestyles for women, with contraception, advanced education, opportunities beyond marrying and reproducing very young. And that's a difficult one to solve -- as a 37 year old childless female, it's not terribly fair for me to insist that others should choose a different path against their will.
Cultural changes could help -- in "What Our Mothers Didn't Tell Us" (available on Amazon; can't be linked, though) Danielle Crittendon suggested that society foster a system under which women marry and have children young, and then go to to fulfill their intellectual/other aspirations later. And that's a possibility. It just doesn't address the issue of how people change and grow as they're educated; in many important ways, I'm a very different person now than I was as a 22 year old off to Harvard Law School. And if I had married young and had several children, it's far from clear to me that I would ever have gotten around to having some of the wonderful experiences that I've subsequently enjoyed.
It's a tough problem, fighting biology.
There is one potential beneficial outcome -- the increasing conservatization (yes, I know it's a created word) of society, because socially conservative women are more likely to have more children than liberal ones. The phenomenon is like the "Roe effect," where young people may be trending pro-life because, obviously, they are living proof that their mothers were pro-life.
At the heart of the problem, in a sense, is the upward trend of lifestyles for women, with contraception, advanced education, opportunities beyond marrying and reproducing very young. And that's a difficult one to solve -- as a 37 year old childless female, it's not terribly fair for me to insist that others should choose a different path against their will.
Cultural changes could help -- in "What Our Mothers Didn't Tell Us" (available on Amazon; can't be linked, though) Danielle Crittendon suggested that society foster a system under which women marry and have children young, and then go to to fulfill their intellectual/other aspirations later. And that's a possibility. It just doesn't address the issue of how people change and grow as they're educated; in many important ways, I'm a very different person now than I was as a 22 year old off to Harvard Law School. And if I had married young and had several children, it's far from clear to me that I would ever have gotten around to having some of the wonderful experiences that I've subsequently enjoyed.
It's a tough problem, fighting biology.
posted by LadybugUSA at 5:26 PM
1 Comments:
Spiritualfields:
As a 38 year old childless woman, I may be able to address the issue of the childless woman for some of us. I've not met the right guy for me and it's not because I'm too picky, because I have some unrealistic expectations of "the ideal man" or because I have some overly-romantic notion of the 1 perfect soul mate for each person. Marriage is a major committment and I think it would be wrong to just find some guy to marry me unless I honestly thought we had a stable, mutually respectful, loving relationship that could last. Unfortunately, the guys who are attracted to me seem to want exactly what men say they don't want: a woman who nags them and bosses them around - they assume I'll be like that (though they don't really admit it) because I can take care of myself and seem to be a strong person. A relationship in which I could ride roughshod over my partner would not be a good one.
Personally, I think a stable marriageis the ideal environment in which to raise children. I think it a bit selfish and irresponsible to intentionally get pregnant to have a baby as a single mother because I want to have a baby. I'm also not really sure it's wise to adopt a child without the appropriate partner and support network. Since there are many couples who want to adopt babies, I'd feel guilty adopting one ahead of a couple and, as a single person who is not rich, I'm not so sure I could provide the additional care needed by a child with special needs who is considered "unadoptable" by most.
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