Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-02-20-Speech-3-403"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20080220.17.3-403"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spoken text |
"Mr President, this is a report on preparing for demographic change. Does this mean we are giving up and accepting the dire prediction in the 2005 Green Paper?
When that paper came out we saw it as a challenge to change. Among other things, we wanted to find a way to enable women to have the number of children that women said they wanted. Are we now throwing in the towel?
Our desire to raise birth rates is undermined by our policies. Our competitive strategy is based on increasing consumerism. Yet consumerism can be a deterrent to having children. In consumerism we are taught to be selfish. Look at the advertisements. Pamper yourself; have it all; buy.
For most people, having children and a family is the opposite. It demand selflessness, sharing and putting others first. As we become consumers we increasingly ask, can we afford a child? And we weigh up the cost of a child against the cost of getting ahead or a social life or a car or a house or a vacation. The child often loses with the potential parents saying either ‘no, thank you,’ or ‘not yet’.
And of course we must tackle infertility. But with over four million abortions a year in Europe, we cannot really say that our falling birth rate is primarily about infertility.
I asked my intern to read this report and she made an interesting comment. Where are the men? If we want to talk about gender equality and demography, we need to talk about both genders being equally and fully responsible for rearing children. For many valid reasons, we have had to emphasise the cause of women. But have we reached a point where we have sidelined men? Raising a child is an enormous task. Although we must give all the help we can to single mothers and their babies, the state is at best a poor substitute for a caring, supportive and, dare I say it, protective father.
Many women do not want to undertake motherhood without an involved father. Security is important in motherhood but financial security is not the whole story. We must encourage an emotional environment that is conducive to having children. Our culture needs to encourage men to step up to the plate.
More than anything, having children is about our closest relationships which is why more and more childcare – though useful in getting women into the workplace – will not help increase the birth rate. To rectify our demographic crisis we must restore the basic integrity of human relationships. We must foster trust, patience, fidelity and love. Only in this atmosphere can men and women feel happy and secure enough to start a family and with real support for this family and family life, we will see an increase in births, plus the revitalisation of Europe."@en1
|
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples