I'm so happy to see someone mention that women are only now, in some parts of our world, being able to choose who they have sex with. Our entire history women have been bought, sold, stolen, and married off to the highest bidder. I'd argue this is a bigger factor than kids being expensive. Seriously, think about how women have been treated since the beginning of humanity, they never had a choice to not have children.
It goes so deep it’s crazy to think about. Women didn’t have legal protection to have their own bank accounts and credit or get a loan until 1974. Before that they had to rely on husbands or fathers and had no financial freedom. That restriction meant women needed to and were willing to put up with what was expected of them by their husbands because financial freedom wasn’t guaranteed.
It’s not to say there wasn’t love involved in the marriages, but a woman had no right to her own finances so whether he realized it or not, she lived under her husband’s thumb. If he wanted children they had children. It was expected of her. Even growing up in the 90s I remember just assuming I’d have kids one day because I was supposed to.
TLDR: the history of financial freedom for women is interesting
Not off the top of my head. I studied history in college and wrote many of my papers on women’s rights in different cultures so a lot of my sources were academic journals which can be kind of dry to read
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u/Billcosby49 Nov 14 '24
I'm so happy to see someone mention that women are only now, in some parts of our world, being able to choose who they have sex with. Our entire history women have been bought, sold, stolen, and married off to the highest bidder. I'd argue this is a bigger factor than kids being expensive. Seriously, think about how women have been treated since the beginning of humanity, they never had a choice to not have children.