\ngrowth<\/a> spark discussion on topics too often avoided. We’ve had spirited conversations in the
\ncomment<\/a> threads<\/a> on<\/a> Grist<\/a> and Grist’s Facebook
\npage<\/a>, and that’s percolated out to Andrew<\/a> Sullivan’s<\/a> blog<\/a> and the Guardian<\/em> website<\/a>,
\namong other spots. The latest
\noutlet to join the conversation is AOL
\nNews<\/a>, where reporter Dave Thier does a better job than most of putting the
\nissues into context. (Compare to MSNBC’s
\nDylan Ratigan Show<\/em><\/a>, which erroneously boiled down my message to
\n“Kids are killing the planet.” Never look to cable TV for
\nnuance.) \n<\/p>\n
And the conversation has spread beyond the English-speaking It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Italians are receptive For now, I want to point out one interesting factor that [The Catholic church and the Pearce compares this to the situation in more egalitarian Sweden, where the She got a year’s maternity leave The Swedish lesson is that [in A lot of this comes down to power, In short: You want more kids in your country? End entrenched This is, of course, just one piece of a complicated puzzle. In the developing world, it’s been demonstrated time and again that more rights and opportunities for women lead to lower fertility rates. More to come in future posts about how all of these pieces fit together.\n<\/p>\n Related Links:<\/strong><\/p>\n How green are the ‘childless by choice’?<\/a><\/p>\n Birth-control opponents greenwash their message<\/a><\/p>\n 50 years after the Pill and this is the best we can do?<\/a><\/p>\n
\nworld via articles published in Italy<\/a> and Brazil<\/a>. My Italian and Portuguese language
\nskills are rusty, but from what Google
\nTranslate<\/a> tells me, these authors seem to understand “the advantages of a life led
\nwithout putting the light of little children.” (Or something like that. I welcome
\nfurther insight from our cosmopolitan readership.)\n<\/p>\n
\nto the GINK
\nmessage<\/a>. Italy has one of the
\nlowest fertility rates in the world—1.32
\nbirths per woman<\/a>. There’s lots
\nof hand-wringing over the graying populace in Italy and some other European
\ncountries (see, for example, this article in today’s New York Times<\/em><\/a>), and that’s an issue I’ll delve into in a later post. \n<\/p>\n
\ncontributes to low Italian birthrates, as described by Fred Pearce in his new
\nbook The
\nComing Population Crash—And Our Planet’s Surprising Future<\/a><\/em>; Italy’s baby bust can be blamed in part on “the dysfunctional roles of the
\nstate and church,” he writes. The
\nVatican has tried hard to keep birth control out of women’s hands (Frances
\nKissling reports on its efforts in a recent Mother
\nJones<\/em> article<\/a>)—but even in Italy, the cradle of Catholicism,
\nthat campaign is backfiring.
\nPearce explains:\n<\/p>\n
\nItalian government] both promote an old patriarchal ideal of large families in
\nwhich the wife stays at home. The
\nstate denies any responsibility for child care or helping mothers into
\nwork. The church, despite losing
\nits influence in the bedroom, retains power over the political climate and
\npublic services. This, the demographers said, turns out to be a lethal
\ncombination for baby making. Where
\nwomen are grabbing their new rights but men are not taking their new
\nresponsibilities, the result is ultralow fertility.<\/strong> [Emphasis mine.]\n<\/p>\n
\nfertility rate is 1.67
\nchildren per woman<\/a>—“not at replacement levels, but not set to
\ndemographic meltdown either.” He describes the situation of a woman named
\nAstrid who lives in Stockholm:\n<\/p>\n
\nwhen each of her [two] children was born. She works a flexible thirty-hour week
\nand can put her children in a nursery at the office when she needs to. Her
\npartner, Sven, is adept at changing diapers and takes turns with the four a.m.
\nfeeding. …\n<\/p>\n
\nEuropean countries] where employers, the state, and men are more flexible,
\nnational fertility rates are higher. …\n<\/p>\n
\nsays Scandinavia’s top demographer, Gosta Epsing-Andersen. These days, most
\ncouples have a “bargaining process in order to reconcile employment and
\nchild care.” Women who work, especially those with good jobs, can drive a
\nbetter bargain. They also have the pick of available men—choosing those who
\nwill change a diaper as well as be good in bed. In Scandinavia, 85 percent of
\nthe best-educated women have children, compared with only 60 percent in more
\nconservative and patriarchal Germany.\n<\/p>\n
\nchauvinism and start supporting working moms. \n<\/p>\n
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