By Drew Davidson
Little girls love their dolls.
They dress their babies, care for them and rock them to sleep just as their mothers did with them. Many will grow up dreaming of one day having a baby of her own. These women are considered normal.
Some girls will grow up dreaming of careers and another kind of fulfillment. They dismiss the idea of motherhood as a childhood fantasy, like becoming a ballerina or an astronaut.
Unfortunately, these women are considered selfish.
Western nations are facing a crisis of sorts as they find themselves with an aging population that hasn’t had enough children to support them as they grow older. In Canada, the current fertility rate is 1.5 children to every woman, below the replacement level of 2.1. Statistics Canada projects that by 2031, seniors will outnumber children, putting a strain on everything from taxes to the workforce to the economy as a whole.
The solution: ladies, start popping out the kids.
Governments around the world are beginning to offer financial incentives to encourage women to have children. One Russian province has even gone as far as to give workers one afternoon off a week to “go home and make babies.”
Canada has taken more moderate approaches with affordable childcare available in Quebec and at the federal government introducing the Universal Child Care Benefit this summer.
In an age where women are told they can have it all, some women just don’t want it. And, all the financial incentives in the world won’t get these “selfish” women to sacrifice their careers for something they don’t want.
One woman interviewed was once asked, “Don’t you ever want that feeling of having a child develop in your womb?”
Her answer: absolutely not.
Women are now opting for higher education and careers that give them a steady income, challenge them intellectually and make them happy. Like it or not, having a child calls for sacrifices to that hard-earned career.
Despite advancements, women still tend to take on the responsibilities of the household. Even if there is a stay-at-home-Dad or exceptional nanny in the woman’s life, pregnancy itself will take its toll on the lawyer who needs to stand in court all day or the dance instructor who needs to teach her students.
This isn’t to say motherhood is something awful. Raising a child and shaping its personality is one of the toughest jobs anyone could ask for and the women who choose children deserve the utmost respect. But just as day-trading isn’t for everyone, neither is changing diapers.
When it comes down to it, choosing children or career or both is a personal choice – or at least it should be. And, as long as a woman makes this choice for herself (no matter what it is), is it not inherently selfish?
While increasing the population is arguably and important cause, a woman should have a baby because she wants it – not because the government put it on sale.
And, if she doesn’t want it, let her be happy in her selfish career.