Catherine Pakaluk on Population Decline and the Women Choosing Large Families

How do we combat historically low fertility rates? While having fewer children has been correlated with higher rates of education among women, a significant group of highly educated women are still choosing to have big families. What is different about these women, and what can they teach us about the nature of parenthood and the importance of children?

This week, Naomi and Ian are joined by Catherine Pakaluk, economist and associate professor at The Catholic University of America, to discuss her recent book, Hannah’s Children: The Women Quietly Defying the Birth Dearth. In researching her book, Dr. Pakaluk interviewed women with a college education who also have five or more children with their current spouse. The vast majority of mothers she spoke with viewed raising children as their first priority. This was true of their husbands as well. Work and career were the secondary goals that supported their ability to be parents. These mothers also viewed motherhood through the lens of their faith, whether Catholic, Protestant, Mormon, or Jewish. They shared the belief that children are blessings from God. Dr. Pakaluk discusses the number of unintended, “spillover” benefits she observed among these families, such as increased independence in their children and a less materialistic approach to life, as well as what the implications of her research could be for public policy.

Resources

-Hannah’s Children: The Women Quietly Defying the Birth Dearth | Catherine Pakaluk

-What Happens When Every Aspect of Parenting Is a Choice? | Naomi Schaefer Riley

Time Stamps

-00:37 | Why did you decide to begin this research?

-02:30 | What were the criteria for the women included in your study?

-04:44 | What were these women like, and what was the motive behind their choices to have large families?

-09:20 | How do we shift the conversation around the declining birth rate from technical interventions to the deeper themes you are talking about?

-13:13 | How do these women think about their choices with regard to their career? Did they make the choice from a very early age, and how did their decisions fit in with their husbands’ decisions?

-17:57 | How do you reconcile the strong role religion plays in the lives of these women with the rising secularism of young people we are seeing today?

-20:50 | How does the religious atmosphere in these families affect their view on material things? What are the other unintended benefits of having large families?