Economic panic about the birthrate is drowning out the voices of those who matter most in this debate
The birthrate is declining across the west. It has been doing so for some time, but the recent drop appears to have been exacerbated by the pandemic. I’ve been following the discussion for years now, amused at the discrepancy between statistics and experience (at one point in 2020, almost everyone I knew seemed to be pregnant or caring for a newborn, my peers having reached the “shit or get off the pot” stage of in their reproductive biology), but also irritated by the tone of the coverage. Whenever I read about the falling birthrate, it is reported alongside a (usually male) economist or politician talking about the catastrophic economic effects of what is being called a “baby shortage”. As though babies are a resource, which of course to some they are.
I have come to dislike these men intensely. They make me feel like a brood mare who must reproduce for the good of the nation. The latest report on declining birthrates comes from Italy, where it has fallen to the lowest level since 1861. An article on the study in the Times quotes two men, one talking about labour shortages and house prices, no women mentioned or spoken to at all, except passively.
Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett is a Guardian columnist