Hacker News Reader

Educated women is the reason usually put forward - once women are educated they find more interesting things to do than have a lot of kids [1]

[1] https://wol.iza.org/uploads/articles/228/pdfs/female-educati... [pdf]

View on HN

Kids used to be allies of their parents; now they are adversaries. If you are sitting at a computer all day, your kids will probably annoy you unless they are watching cartoons. On a farm or in a hunter-gatherer setting, your kids can learn by watching you and they can help in more useful ways over time.

it depends on your focus doesn't it? Like if you're goal is to spend all day at a computer then yes kids are a distraction. Surprisingly a lot of people like spending time with their family, and regard sitting at a computer as a necessity.

I'd imagine it has more to do with independence than with hobbies. Educated women get jobs that pay well and can do whatever they please, they don't have to rely on a husband and stay at home. IIRC, it's strongly correlated to income (which of course is closely coupled to education), and I'm pretty sure that poor women do not have more children because they're bored or don't know what else to do.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com