[ExI] Demography (was: tech influence)

[BillK]

On Sun, Feb 9, 2014 at 6:28 PM, Tara Maya  wrote:
>
> The history of demographic change as it relates to women's rights was my field of study in history,
> so this topic is of some interest to me. I won't claim that my thesis is without controversy, but
> what I found from studying about 1500 years of European demographic patterns was that
> historically most women aimed to have two surviving children. Surveys of modern women hav
> found that they aim for...two surviving children. In other words, education and emancipation
> have actually had NO EFFECT on how many children most women desire.
<snip>
>

The big problem with this view is that without empowerment it didn't
(and currently doesn't in third world countries) matter what women
want or think. While women remain property, men decide whether large
families are required to work in the fields and support them in old
age. Death and abuse is a constant threat for these women. They are
virtually slave labour. The first victims in third world wars are
women. The idea of one wife (of several) telling her husband in a
third world village that she had decided that she wasn't going to have
any more children is ridiculous. She would (at least) be thrown out on
the streets to survive as best she could and quite likely be beaten to
death.
This is not a 'choice' situation.

BillK