Lifestyle

Women Will Save the World

We always have

I could have used a stock photo of some beautiful, serene pregnant woman, but why not show the world an unflattering pic of how I looked having a contraction in 1989, bad perm and all? It was still early in my very long labor. Soon enough, the apple juice and magazine were discarded. (Family photo)

Since ancient times, women have kept the world going by giving birth.

Now? We will keep the world going by not giving birth.

It pains me to say this.

I love babies.

I always had a passion for babies, birth, breastfeeding and parenting. I found it so fulfilling that I would quite happily have had a house full of children if I’d lived a hundred years ago.

But I stopped at two, and plenty of women now are having no children or just one, and I don’t blame them. In fact, I think the more women who refuse to reproduce, the better off we are. More on that in a minute.

By my count, there are five reasons women hesitate to have babies now:

• Having children is so expensive that most of us can’t easily afford it.
• Husbands/partners don’t have a great track record. Marriages and relationships break up. Child support can be sketchy. Even if the marriage works out, plenty of men do less than their share of housework and childcare, and women know this going in because women who already have children are vocal about their exhaustion.
• All but the wealthiest women…