Since when was it the job of politicians to tell women when to have children? |
The French government is to write to 29-year-olds reminding them that their biological clock is ticking in a bid to boost the birth rate. This is much more than friendly concern, writes Rebecca McQuillan, it’s worrying over-reach that treats women in particular like economic pawns
It’s never far beneath the surface, the idea that women who err need to be brought to heel. When the US vice-president JD Vance attacked women he called “childless cat ladies with miserable lives”, he was titillating the hardline conservative right who are inexpressibly angry about feminism. These are the people who are inclined to believe women who make a life for themselves without children, along with the gays and the Muslims, are at the root of all America’s problems.
Still, I never thought we’d get that sort of vibe from Emmanuel Macron of France. The centrist president made gender equality la grand cause of his first term and his government has pursued initiatives like tackling the gender pay gap and combating street harassment (you can now be fined on the spot for it in France).
But with the far-right snapping at his heels, the tone has changed. The 48-year-old father of none has been heading a drive for what he ominously terms “demographic rearmament” or getting people to have more children. The public rationale is economic, to secure France’s competitive economic. He’s already pushing fertility tests on 25-year-olds. The latest initiative? Sending letters to 29-year-olds urging them to get on with having babies.
The letter, apparently, will contain a warning to recipients that their biological clock is ticking, nudging them to have children........