Both Russia and Germany were in the news this past week regarding each country's declining birth rates. In Russia, President Putin addressed Parliament and ordered them to develop a plan to reduce the country's falling birthrate. In Germany, it was revealed that 30% of the nation's females are intentionally childless, a fact that is becoming more and more common in Western Europe and in North America. What are your thoughts on these issues of population growth, or lack thereof?
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Roles are changing for women as the psychology infrastructure of the female mind is challenged with eductional opportunites, career options, and the fact that a huge percentage of women are single parents and that is not fun.
It wasn’t long ago that women could not vote or claim artistic writes to a musical or artistic composition. Mothers Day holidays simply are not enough of an acknowledgment of what it takes to be pregnant, birth a child, and nurture and teach it for the rest of ones life. Women have predominately been doing this alone.
Why would a modern woman – smart, free and educated desire to bare this responsbility alone? No.
It’s not just single mothers that shar the brunt of the work – married mothers typically take charge of most of the childcare as well. Even women in stable relationships know they’ll be sacraficing their career far more then their mates in the typical situation. Maybe it’s biological, maybe it’s cultural, probably it is both. The fact remains that the “wage gap” only applies to mothers.
However, this situation isn’t new. What are new are developments in birth control that make children a choice, and higher education and career opportunities for women that make it a decreasingly appealing choice.
Considering the fact that we have subdued the earth to our whims and grown our population at an exponential rate, perhaps this development isn’t such a bad thing.
Parenting is a tough, 24/7 job, and there is no pay for it. As a matter of fact, a parent may pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to have that job. Those who go childless find themselves with more leisure time, more freedom with money, and an all-around lower maintenance life. Kudos to them!
The natura law of procreation has been infridge upon by these nations inflicted with declining birth rate. only if its revisit and normal marriages are encouraged, abolition of sterization and more wives for men.
Regarding the falling birth rates in Russia, I would deduce that Putin has seen the writing on the wall about his country’s future and is now forced to take drastic measures to correct the problem. What will happen if measures are not taken? Who will steer the country after the current leaders have met their Maker? And where are the Russian ladies and future baby makers? I can answer in one word: America. Here they are making baby after baby and using the system to not only be free to make their own choices but to pay for all of these babies they are producing. It is a shame that they are not in their own country where their fecundity is sorely needed.
As far as Germany, I do not understand why 30% of the females have decided to be childless, but I would deduce that there are more economic challenges to face and that their added earnings are needed to make ends meet. Why else would they decide to be childless, and what can the leaders do to change this mindset? Could the government offer a financial inducement for couples who elect to have at least one child? Other countries have used this strategy, and for the future of Germany, I would suggest that the leaders dig into their wallets and come up with some serious dough to make the prospect of motherhood financially attractive. The future of Germany depends upon it.
One must take a look at the demographic transition… We were in stage 2 during the Industrial Revolution, during which the population boomed and fertility was high because of advances in technology, health, food production, etc. Then came stage three and now stage four, during which population growth slows and eventually the crude death rate matches or is higher than the crude birth rate. As one other person mentioned above, women have more choices in regard to careers and which paths they’ll take in life… no children does mean more leisure time and less debt. Birth control also has a lot to do with it, as well as the general evolution of women’s roles in Western society. We can take a look at “less developed” nations that are still in stage two and moving into stage three and compare their population birth rates to ours.
How do less developed countries transition from stage one to stage two? Is it through the agricultural revolution?