Fertility is collapsing because motherhood is zero-status

alephnerd

Or because having kids is much more limiting for women than it is for men... It's almost like no one here has actually talked to women in their 20s and early 30s. While cost does play a role, almost every guy (and it's always guys) seems to ignore polling amongst women [0] that highlights this shift. Women face the physical effects of childbirth and the subsequent recovery (if they recover), as well as stalled careers and the continued existence of patriarchical norms. Unsurprisingly, the younger generation of women are much less interested compared to men, because now they have a choice. [0] - https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2024/07/25/reasons...

bfeynman

Trying to ascribe causality on macro/global level when the interesting tidbits are certainly on the regionalized scale seems mostly useless, although somewhat there is irony in again a man writing about why he thinks women having less kids than just going around and getting actual data points that aren't capture by societal level statistics. I think the undeniable trend is caused by economics especially in the western world. It's more expensive to live than ever, and kids are very expensive when you factor in cost of living and lifestyle adjustments. This sort of essay is farcical in ascribing economic stability as "status" - which of course has a negative connotation of seeking status, but suppose thats on track for a man writing an essay about this. Women( and men) need to work now because single incomes are not enough, and women biologically have larger burden in child rearing regardless. Economic incentives for child rearing are a joke, much like most policy that ends up more as a panacea than a solution - because none of it targets the other huge correlation we see, the growing level of inequality of wealth where the top n% is accumulating more and more. One need not look at number of lawsuits regarding women getting fired or laid off from work for needing/taking maternal leave. In the US you often need to be tenured for a year to qualify for it. These are all economic issues at it's core, and the tautology to it being status seeking is an damaging one in and of itsef.

g8oz

The author's proscriptions for the fertility crisis include - permitting child labor (as long as it's in a local business) - ending sex education - denying student loans to women - permitting hiring discrimination Not sure how well such measures would fly with the general public.

snthpy

If you have kids for the status then you're going to have a bad time.