Free at Last
April 8, 2010
In 1790, the average white woman in America gave birth to eight children. The white population doubled every twenty-two years. Today, according to the latest birth statistics, the average white woman gives birth to 1.84 children, not enough to replace the current white population and not enough to sustain economic growth in the long run, as economist John Mueller points out here.
This decline in our culture, this slow enervation of our people, has been worth it. The average woman no longer faces the indignities of a life centered on her domestic empire, with dozens of grandchildren to accompany her through old age. She is a free agent or, despite the wealth and comforts of the modern age, she is too poor to afford children. Fortunately, she is not anywhere near as stupid and unhappy as this woman, a typical domestic dingbat, painted in 1783 by Charles Wilson Peale.
— Comments —
Brittany writes:
Since the 18th century women have made great strides. We have the right to vote, more of a choice in education, and in general more opportunities. Sadly women have forgotten that having a family is also an opportunity.
P.S I love that painting.
Laura writes:
Are those strides forward or backward?
BGC writes:
“We have the right to vote, more of a choice in education, and in general more opportunities. Sadly women have forgotten that having a family is also an opportunity.”
We must distinguish means and ends. These instances are merely means to the ends of better government, greater wisdom and fulfillment of our biological purpose. How well are we doing at reaching those ends?
Laura writes:
This report on a recent women’s rally for Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann makes the suffragettes look very bad.
Nurse Bee writes:
You forget that it is likely out of those eight children, it is likely that several would not have survived childhood. Obviously, that’s not the only reason people back then generally had more children, but I’m sure it factored into it.
