Posted on 01/28/2006 8:05:41 PM PST by MinorityRepublican
Chancellor Angela Merkel has pushed Germany's low birth rate to the top of the political agenda for the first time since the Nazi era as an expert said the nation could die out if the trend continued.
A third of German women are not having children, a remarkable figure even compared with low birth rates in the rest of Europe. Among graduates the figure is as high as 40 per cent.
Every year 100,000 more Germans die than are born and each generation is shrinking by about a third.
Even in the poverty and despair after the Second World War, more babies were born than now. The figure has slumped to 1.3 children per woman, far short of the replacement rate of 2.1.
Some observers attribute the trend to young people's reluctance to sacrifice their comfortable way of life and leisure time to bring up the next generation.
Others argue that German society expects women to stay at home to look after the family and that child care is inadequate and expensive.
Mrs Merkel, 51, is not the best role model: she has no children. Asked why, she said: "It just did not fit in with my career path."
But she is fully aware that the onus is on her, the country's first female leader, to improve the lot of women, raise the birth rate and put Germany back at the top as an economic power within a decade.
"If the birth rate continues to fall, Germans are at risk of dying out," said Harald Michel, the head of the Institute for Applied Demography. He foresees a future in which the workforce will be unable to support the elderly, nor indeed the country.
Past reluctance to tackle the problem is largely explained by the sensitivity of child-bearing in a country which, under the Nazis, did all it could to raise the birth rate for the state.
"The Nazi ideal of kinder, küche, kirche (children, kitchen, church) still prevails," said Jutta Schmidt, 33, a sociologist and mother of two children from Hamburg.
"The pressure on women to fulfil the maternal role, coupled with the lack of support to carry it out, such as part-time jobs and child care provision, is so great that many would rather forgo the opportunity than risk failure."
In Nazi times women were awarded motherhood medals for bearing children. Child bearing was strictly under the control of the state, not the individual.
Had Ursula von der Leyen, 47, been a mother in the Third Reich, she would have won the silver medal. She is a gynaecologist, a mother of seven and, as the family minister, is Mrs Merkel's greatest hope.
She says that Germany is "extremely backward" in its attitude towards the family. Unless the birth rate rises, "we will have to turn out the light".
Mrs von der Leyen, a member of the Christian Democratic Union, has offered women one-year wage replacement subsidies and to raise the amount of child care that can be offset against tax. But some of her proposals, such as encouraging fathers to stay at home for two months after the birth of a child, have provoked stiff opposition even from male party colleagues. They accuse her of wanting to "tie men to the nappies".
For many, child care and not money is at the root of the problem. The country that invented the kindergarten 170 years ago is pitifully lacking in child care places.
Only 10 per cent of children under three have access to pre-school care and most of those are sent home at noon, a 2001 study showed. In Denmark the figure is 64 per cent and in Britain 34 per cent.
The problem is exacerbated by employers who are unwilling to help workers with young children - and schools, most of which also close at noon.
"People have to give up their careers because there are no child care places," said Renate Köcher, the director of the Allensbach polling institute. "And because they have given up their jobs, we have neglected to create more child care places."
Germany is also a country in which everything happens comparatively late. The average starting school age is almost seven. University takes the best part of a decade to complete, so the average student is in her late twenties when she graduates.
Therefore, finding a job, particularly in these days of high unemployment, stands much higher on the list of priorities than having babies.
you know we have a seemingly large number of American men that can't find good old fashioned American women to wed and bed, so maybe they can all move to Germany and start the super race over there.......
where do I sign up????
agree....never happen.....here in the USA the elderly get the automatic $10 to $1 for the kiddies......
happy to see though at one local department store had a parking spot for mothers with toddlers in tow.......
Muslims are targeting poor Hispanics.
what makes men think women WANT to work like dogs to earn a few cents and to have the kids in daycare....
I am a woman, and I work with many women, and I can tell you, the main wish of most of us is to be able to be home with the kids more.......
themselves long ago...:-)"
They're just waiting for the rest of to catch on. Of course, it might help if we could push the Marxist Muslims into this path :)
Maybe I should write a book..."What do American Men Want?"
,,, like everything else, breeding can be outsourced to China.
The age-old way to marginalize somebody, call him a "whacko" or a "crackpot". I'm surprised you didn't call him a 'xenophobe' too. Yet Pat Buchanan is quite mentally and emotionally stable, has a high IQ, is well read and well educated, is a very high acheiver in America as a politician, a journalist, a prolific author, a TV host; yeah he's quite a "whacko".
As the Bible says, judge all things by their fruits, and the fruits of many of Buchanan's prophesies is that they have proven to be true.
Really and truly serious question: What reasons do you give for working? I really want to know. It's very important.
eeiiuuuwww...I'm sorry. Chinese men just do not turn me on.
"In Nazi times women were awarded motherhood medals for bearing children."
Mothers should get a medal. I saw what my wife went through twice; definitely worth a medal -- especially for the second one, when she knew what she was volunteering for. They should get another medal for raising them to maturity. (They could share that one with the fathers.)
So what if the Nazis thought of it first -- even a broken clock ...
,,, they don't do anything for me either, but consider the number of golf courses China has now. They're working things out just right.
Ironically, Pat is right about 99% of the issues. His anti-semitism will get him everytime, however.
Tou're a sweetheart. :)
,,, you're 100% right. Our daughter is ten months old now. When she was born my wife was sitting up an hour later feeding our daughter while she munched on a banana as if nothing had happened. Amazing... I'm glad I sub-contracted the whole thing out to her :)
"You're", not whatever I said. lol! Way past my bedtime. Interesting thread. Nite all.
'anti-semite' is about as definitive a word as 'homophobe'. Words like these are pc inventions that really mean nothing, but insinuate everything. Does Pat really dislike Jews, or do Jews and liberals think it would be bad for them if he made it to the White House and hence try to marginalize him? Take for example what the various Jewish 'defense' organizations did to Mel Gibson when he produced "The Passion". He himself was crucified for trying to present the Truth, and was unfairly labeled an 'anti-semite' by the enemies of truth.
A glimpse at America's future if nothing changes.
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