Sta,—I have followed with interest the letters. and the recent
article on the subject of the declining population. I should like to write a few more lines on behalf of us young wives who are so constantly blamed for not producing large families. First, may I say I like children? I was one of a large and jolly family, and I would dearly like several children of my own. I write on behalf of a number of other women who agree with me. The reasons- we have small families are as follows:
' (i) Most of us were round about 3o when we married, the reason being that a great many professions definitely discourage early marriages and sometimes make them quite impossible.
(2) In the years before the war our husbands were nearly always insecure, with only very vague prospects. A few achieved success and a measure of security, but it was then too late for their wives to give them large families.
(3) The housing position was and is such that houses suitable for couples hoping to have large families are quite inadequate. Either they are very small and cramped or else they are large and inconvenient, and quite impossible to run without domestic help. Such few suitable houses that are available are much too expensive for the average young couple. .
We women have to choose between living the lives of domestic slaves or limiting the size of our families. It isn't cars and servants that we want, but it is: (a) Security for our husbands.
(b) Convenient houses and the training in our schooldays to enable us to perform our domestic duties easily and methodically.
(c) Nursery schools, so that we can occasionally leave our children for shopping or other necessities.
(d) The possibility of a good education up to 16 or without the heavy expense of our modern public schools.
(e) The chance for us to be intelligent and attractive wives, good mothers and well-informed, public-spirited women.
Surely it is not in the interest of the nation to lower our standard of living and intelligence in order to give birth to numbers of under- fed, ill-clothed, improperly educated children? I very much doubt if there will be any permanent increase in the birth-rate until a few of these much-discussed reforms actually come into being.—Yours truly,
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