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The Guardian Misleads on Israel's Baby Boom

(CAMERA-UK) Adam Levick - A July 16 article in the Guardian reported that in Israel, "a woman who doesn't want to have children is a threat to the social order....If you aren't a mother, you are betraying your homeland." Yet this doesn't even remotely resemble reality. As anyone who lives in Israel knows, by and large, Israeli women are empowered, confident and make their own decisions - often independent of others' expectations. Israel has the highest fertility rate in the OECD (at 3.1 children per women) based on many factors, including an efficient healthcare system which prioritizes pre-natal care, paid maternity leave, workplaces which adopt family friendly policies, and subsidized pre-school. Israel often ranks relatively high on lists of the best countries to raise a family. Israeli academic Barbara Okun notes: "a family system in which parents provide significant financial and caregiving aid to their adult children; relatively egalitarian gender-role attitudes and household behavior; the continuing importance of familist ideology and of marriage as a social institution." An additional possible factor could be happiness - Israel is ranked as the 9th happiest country in the world.
2022-07-28 00:00:00
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