NPR this morning
Morning edition had a really interesting piece this morning on Germany's dwindling birth rate (something like 1.3 children/woman).
Find it here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5427278
It's a really good listen. They interviewed a woman from Sweden who married a German man and was rather shocked at the differences between the societies. In Sweden, there's quite a bit more subsidised kindergarten and daycare than in Germany. Women aren't looked down upon for going back to work, men aren't looked down upon for staying home, and neither are looked down upon for taking advantage of child care services. In short, women aren't forced to choose between a career and a family and as a result, Sweden has one of the highest birth rates in eastern Europe.
Let this be a wake up call to the rest of the world: it does take a village to raise a child, or in this case, a family. Societies are going to have to enable and encourage women to have children and families in a time when the career choices for women are finally being equalized. We're going to have to get past the stigma of the working mother and the stay at home dad and enable families to decide for themselves what the best plan is.
Find it here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5427278
It's a really good listen. They interviewed a woman from Sweden who married a German man and was rather shocked at the differences between the societies. In Sweden, there's quite a bit more subsidised kindergarten and daycare than in Germany. Women aren't looked down upon for going back to work, men aren't looked down upon for staying home, and neither are looked down upon for taking advantage of child care services. In short, women aren't forced to choose between a career and a family and as a result, Sweden has one of the highest birth rates in eastern Europe.
Let this be a wake up call to the rest of the world: it does take a village to raise a child, or in this case, a family. Societies are going to have to enable and encourage women to have children and families in a time when the career choices for women are finally being equalized. We're going to have to get past the stigma of the working mother and the stay at home dad and enable families to decide for themselves what the best plan is.