Breathe
By Fátima Masse
Women increasingly want to have fewer children. The average global fertility rate went from 5.3 births per woman in 1963 to 2.3 in 2021. With this, one would think that our species is stable, since we are at what is known as the demographic replacement rate. However, there are countries and regions where this trend is so marked that it has become a serious economic concern, but the solution requires a paradigm shift.
China is a country famous for having implemented a strict one-child-per-family policy, where the fertility rate went from 7.5 in 1963, to 2.9 in 1982, to 1.2 in 2021. It is now concerned that in 2022 its population will shrink for the first time since the 1960s. This situation not only imposes a fiscal challenge to care for an aging population, but also puts the growth of its economy at risk.
The situation in China is serious and President Xi Jinping knows it, that is why he has raised alerts to address it from different sectors. The last one was at the National Women's Congress where he called for the exaltation of traditional family values to the extent that women return to work at home exclusively and have more babies. Yes, you read that right, an official call to reinforce patriarchal structures in order to maintain economic dynamism.
China is not the first Asian country to be concerned about this situation. Japan and Korea have been facing a similar demographic trend for several years. However, their reactions have been antagonistic. Japan, for example, has a Minister of Women's Empowerment who is expected to have more influence on the agenda and public opinion. Korea has implemented a range of policies from care services to tax credits to enable women to combine motherhood with their careers. However, it must be acknowledged that their results have been meager, probably because the efforts are insufficient to address the magnitude of the causes or because they started too late.
Although what happens in each country is different, there are certain common conditions that explain a lower desire to have offspring. First, lower infant mortality, so families do not want to have more children to compensate for possible losses. Second, greater empowerment of women who are increasingly prepared and want to enter the workforce. Third, the cost of raising children is increasing.
Now, when I read these causes to which the literature points, the first thing I think is , wouldn't it be profitable - in demographic terms - to build more egalitarian societies? Societies where women who want to have children do not have to worry about sacrificing their professional careers, where they are safe, where there is an affordable care system and where men also perform care tasks, to list a few examples. Something more like what is being done in Korea and Japan, but with multi-sectoral efforts capable of transforming the mindset of an entire society.
While I believe that this would not be a panacea, because the world has changed and so has what women want, I am convinced that demographic policies need to contemplate substantive gender equality actions. In Mexico, it is time to pay attention to these global trends, since our fertility rate has also fallen and it is only a matter of time before we reach a situation similar to what China is experiencing.
The opinions expressed are the responsibility of the authors and are absolutely independent of the position and editorial line of the company. Opinion 51.
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