Facing "facts" with fantasy

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

>Yoshie Furuhashi said on 8/31/99 1:09 PM
>
>>Not to desire motherhood is not the same as fearing motherhood.  Yoshie
>
>But if it could be shown that of the group of women experiencing
>unplanned and or unexpected pregnancy who chose not to mother, a
>substantial proportion could trace their decision to fear of something
>associated with mothering. And if that something could be manipulated by
>social engineering, reducing that fear, then society would have been
>improved. But can the "willingness to mother" variable be put forward as
>a servicable indication of a society's health.
>
>Martin

If your opinion were correct, Swedish women (who live in a country noted
for its many parenting-friendly laws & social programs), for instance,
would have more babies than, say, impoverished women in impoverished
countries, for better-off women would have less to fear from motherhood,
planned or unplanned. (But the fact of the matter is that they don't.)
Generally speaking, the higher women's status, educational level, earning
capacity relative to men, etc. are in a society, the less willing women are
to give birth to babies.  Also, historically, in America, for example, as
women have come closer to gaining treatment equal to men, women have come
to prefer a smaller and smaller number of children.  Women's well-being has
a reciprocal relation to a smaller number of children.

Yoshie