Apparently, women should be blamed for the world’s declining fertility rates. Women must give birth to babies to help their country survive. They are child bearers, after all. Or, so they say.

Recently, a dual-income, no-kids preference has been growing among young couples, raising questions as to whether a no-kids ideal should even be embraced.

Think: why are fertility rates falling in the first place? Is it not due to the high costs of childcare? Do parents not have to secure a stable job first to properly raise a child?

First, childcare expenses in countries like New Zealand and the Czech Republic can exceed 20 percent of average salaries. These financial pressures force parents, particularly women, to make difficult choices when starting a family. Additionally, inflexible labor markets in countries like Spain and Germany penalize career breaks for childcare, further discouraging family planning. The International Monetary Fund also reveals a strong negative relationship between fertility rates and female labor force participation.

As wages increase, so do the expenses of childcare. Thus, women must work longer to accommodate these prices—ultimately decreasing fertility rates. Case in point: Japan and Niger. In 2023, Japan’s gross domestic product (GDP) per capita was approximately $33,834, one of the world’s highest. Yet the country hit an all-time low of 1.20 births per woman in the same year. In addition, only 48 percent of Japanese mothers return to full-time work after childbirth due to systemic barriers that make balancing careers and parenting challenging. Conversely, Niger had a GDP per capita of only $618 and a fertility rate of 6.5.

This high rate may be attributed to women’s limited access to education and family planning services, coupled with a contextual socio-economic dynamic. Higher fertility rates may also be explained by cultures viewing children as a form of economic security. However, as GDP per capita increases, fertility rates decline due to a trade-off between the “quality” and “quantity” of child investment.

Despite the dynamic, this trend is changing in countries with robust childcare support systems. Nordic nations like Sweden and Estonia stabilized their fertility rates to around 1.8 to 2.0, thanks to heavily subsidized childcare that makes raising children more affordable. The Philippines’ fertility rates are also stabilizing, standing at around 2.4 births since 2020. The country also provides a 105-day paid maternity leave for mothers under the 105-Day Expanded Maternity Leave Law of 2019. This is higher than the 14-week minimum mandated by the International Labor Organization. Even the United States does not grant paid maternity leave. However, this Act fails to recognize the reality of women carrying more than one child at a time. Section 7 of the Implementing Rules and Regulations of the Act clearly states: “The female member shall be paid only one maternity benefit, regardless of the number of offspring, per childbirth/delivery.”

The law also provides that extended maternity leave may only be availed before or after the delivery of the baby without interruption. Babies need attention not just immediately after birth but also during periodical appointments with doctors. Aside from this, the Act does not give the same maternity leave benefits to parents who adopted infants or had a child through scientific interventions. Globally and in the Philippines, economic barriers make parenting difficult. Hence, it is unreasonable and lazy to assume that women simply do not want children anymore. Stop asking why women are having fewer children. Why not ask why being a parent is such an expensive venture? Pointing the blame at women overlooks the systemic challenges that impact global fertility rates.

Women are not avoiding motherhood; they are responding to the economy that has made childcare a financial gamble. Sky-high expenses and workplaces that condemn parenthood have suppressed fertility rates more than any supposed aversion to children. If pro-natalist leaders and policymakers want more babies for their country, they should stop lecturing women about having children. Instead, they should enforce economic policies that will encourage parenthood and fix the system that makes parenting difficult.