Hannah's Children: The Women Quietly Defying the Birth Dearth

Overall, I thought this was an interesting read that gave me some really interesting perspectives about having children that I don’t normally think about or am exposed to. I had to set aside my normal feminist ideology (e.g. abortion, the working woman) and truly try to empathize and see the perspective of these women who love their lives with so many children. I especially found it intriguing that many of the women were educated with higher degrees, as this goes against the (wrong) stereotype I have of women who have many kids. The author does admit she is biased, but I am curious though about all of the women who DO have many kids and regret it, or those whose husbands are USELESS IN THE HOUSE. It is one-sided, but at the end of the day I do follow along with her argument that the global birth rate IS falling and it WILL cause problems, and that these government-provided incentives to encourage women to have more kids (like baby bounty, and other perks) don’t really make people want to have more kids. I did follow along with her main thesis that for most women, the opportunity cost of having children is not worth what you’d have to give up (like your sense of identity, free time, good night’s sleep) in this world that values individuality more than communality.

Maybe I misinterpreted it, but her solution at the end of the book seemed like since religion encourages people to have more kids (which is an objective fact I can agree with) therefore we need more religious schools not just public schools funded by “government cartel”? Weird.