Emily Baughan teaches history at the University of Sheffield and is an affiliate of the Alameda Institute.
Conservatives say birth rates are falling because of a lack of old-fashioned respect for motherhood. Rather than enshrining women’s supposedly natural and essential role as mothers, we should place children at the heart of a politics that cares for everyone.
Across Europe, the Right has taken a pronatalist turn. Despite claiming to support mothers, its initiatives — largely ineffectual, according to many studies — serve to reinforce patriarchal gender roles and protect the interests of employers.