FRHD 1020 Chapter Notes - Chapter 5: Foster Care, Infant Mortality, Artificial Insemination
17 Apr 2016
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Document Summary
Having a child is often regarded as the mark of adulthood. There is much pressure on couples to have children. Since motherhood is considered necessary for personal fulfillment, women who choose not to have children are stigmatized. In fact, these women often have higher levels of career achievement. In the earlier rural economy in canada, children provided labour for the family enterprise and social security for the elderly. For a variety of reasons, the birth rate has dropped markedly in the past few decades. First, medical advances have reduced infant mortality and provided more effective contraceptives. Second, despite opposition on moral and religious grounds, both contraceptives and abortion have been legalized. Child labour is no longer a necessary part of our economy. Poor economic times and women s growing participation in the workforce as well as the cost of raising children also foster smaller families.
