The crisis of motherhood

Western societies face several problems with motherhood, the causes of which are complicated. We should not blame women but rather the present culture and the lack of support by public authorities and, maybe, also the fathers. In short, the problems are as follows:

   For several decades, there has been dramatically declining fertility and birth rates – we cannot even reproduce ourselves.

   Women postpone their births until their 30s, well past the time when the female body is most suitable to receive a child.

   More and more women decide not to have children at all. And many choose to have only one child, who accordingly has to live without siblings. In the US and England, the one-child family has overtaken the two-child family as the most widespread family type.

   The separation of sex and procreation has been consistently accomplished using the contraceptive pill and in vitro fertilization (IVF). IVF has opened up uses and abuses far beyond the basic desire to have a child.

   The number of abortions continues at a high level. About a third of all women in the West have one or more abortions, and among teenagers, the abortion rate exceeds the birth rate.

   More and more fetuses and embryos are being sorted out today, even if they will only have minor disabilities or defects or just have a certain probability of having them.

   There has been a significant increase in the number of mothers who spend most of their daytime hours on their work and career rather than taking care of their infants, even though this work often causes a significant stress load on them.

   The mothers’ increased involvement in the labor market has also led to more and more children themselves being exposed to serious stress and psychological disorders, as there has been no one else well-suited to take over the mothers’ place. Over decades, still more children have been left in daycare, which is not a preferable solution for infants as they need a stable attachment to well-known and deeply caring persons. Besides, children have been increasingly exposed to parents’ divorce or growing up with a single mother without regular contact with their dad.