Anna Sirota “There is no one to give birth to”: Why Russian women are bombarded with calls to have children 18 09.16.2024, 07:59

“We are not your incubator!”, “Give birth yourself, because you are so smart”, “Soon they will forcibly inseminate” – every day social networks explode with another angry comment from Russian women in response to this seemingly good initiative of deputies and officials. At first, everyone was delighted with the proposal of deputy Zhanna Ryabtseva that childbirth should begin at the age of 18-19. So why put off until tomorrow what you can really do today? I graduated from school and immediately got down to business, so to speak.

In the comments, women and men, as is expected, discuss the material side of the topic, which everyone knows except Zhanna Anatolyevna. For example, how will a young family live? How will they survive physically? The benefits of having a child will be minimal, because the mother, most likely, will not have time to work anywhere before giving birth. How much money will happy parents use to support themselves and their baby? Or will new grandparents have to do it? Will a young family be able to afford to rest, go to museums and theaters, cafes and restaurants, beauty salons, play sports? It is clear that in the parliamentary coordinate system all these issues are left in the background. If, according to the legislator’s plan, a second child should appear in the family a year or two after the birth of the first, and a happy mother can already have five children by the age of 30, is there time for entertainment? I am generally silent about housing.

But women are not silent. You could say they were “bombarded.” They want to hear concrete suggestions.

For example, who would give a mortgage to a young married couple? How would they pay off the debt? Should we go back to the Soviet Union, where generations of people lived in a single room in a communal apartment, and a separate two-room apartment with a six-meter kitchen and adjoining rooms could easily accommodate three generations of a family?

And what about the Soviet Union? In general, it was a pioneering force in terms of gender equality. Soviet girls entered universities, developed culture and science, launched spaceships, saved humanity from diseases, and did all this on an equal basis with men. Now women are asked to go back a few centuries: what kind of professional achievements can we talk about if we start giving birth at the age of 18-19? Yes, there is no need for this, because women’s place in the kitchen is not for me, of course, this is already a man’s aria. A quote from priest Andrei Tkachev: “Let a woman swim in the kitchen, that’s where she belongs.” I will not quote from the discussion of this speech, you can imagine it yourself. The icing on the cake, as they say, was the offer to all Muscovites from 18 to 40 to undergo fertility tests.

At first glance, this is good; a large-scale program is being implemented to support women’s reproductive health. On the other hand, you passed the test, you can give birth, but what to do next if, say, you are not married? Or will you immediately be offered to become the mother of Pavel Durov’s children on a conditional basis? Girls do not understand.

In all these wonderful suggestions and initiatives, there is a very important but everyone ignores “but”. Besides the obvious questions about the financial aspect of childbearing, our women and girls are very interested in how and at what point our dear authorities plan to provide every woman of childbearing age with a worthy man.

Legislators and officials unanimously insist that modern women postpone having children “for later” because of the desire to get an education and find a good job, but for some reason the simple idea that a man is needed to bear children does not support this situation, as it can happen to everyone.

Not just a passerby or an unknown donor, but a beloved and loving man who is ready to marry, have children, provide for his family and take responsibility is recommended. Now attention, a question: how many of these young people aged 18-25 do you know? Young women do not give birth not because they do not want to, but because there is no one to give birth to. You can completely cover the entire female population of the country with fertility tests, cancel the admission of women to universities (who, by the way, will teach, treat, etc.?), teach all girls to cook borscht and make dumplings, but this will not solve the main problem – gender imbalance, psychological unpreparedness for creating a family among boys aged 18-25 (what about military service?) and low material security for young people.

Marriages, as we know, are made in heaven, not in the minds of legislators. Instead of constantly pressuring women who allegedly do not want to give birth, it would be good if MPs would turn to men more often – after all, something about population growth depends on them. And it wouldn’t hurt to control their fertility. And somehow it doesn’t end very honestly.

The author expresses his personal opinion, which may not coincide with the editors’ position.