Sociologist bats for benefits to rejuvenate birth rate

As Jamaica’s birth rate plunges to alarming levels, sociologist Georgia Crawford is urging the Government to take bold steps to avert the looming crisis, starting with cash bonuses for new mothers, home grants, and a three-day workweek for parents.

The consultant sociologist and capacity-building expert outlined a range of proposals aimed at reversing the fertility freefall, including $1 million to $3 million in housing support for first-time mothers or adoptive parents, and a 13-month salary incentive for in-residence fathers if present during a child’s first two years.

She also recommended a three-day workweek for new mothers, government-subsidised fertility treatment for couples struggling to conceive, and a nationwide public campaign to shift attitudes around family and childbearing.

“Women can’t be saying, ‘We need help’, and we don’t listen,” she said, while adding that a national childbearing and family campaign is also needed.

“We need to restore pride in parenting.”

Warning that Jamaica is on the brink of a population collapse, with devastating economic and social consequences, the pro-natalist advocate stressed that the declining birth rate is not just a demographic issue, but a matter of national survival.

“We just don’t have what it takes to keep us going without a population. We just don’t have it, and so the Government has to do something about it. They have to encourage baby-making, and countries all across the world have been doing this – this is not something new,” she said.

In addition to financial support for families, Crawford floated the idea that the Government might have to consider restricting access to emergency contraception and enforcing laws against illegal abortion clinics, stating that such measures, while controversial, may be necessary in a national emergency.

“We might have to ban the number of morning-after pills that are openly available and really clamp down on the abortion clinics that we know exist, even though it’s illegal – because if we are facing a crisis, then you have to take bold steps,” she said.

Crawford said the Government will also have to take decisive action to ensure that men support their children, while adding that although there are measures at the Family Court, follow-up actions such as mandatory salary deductions is not being done to ensure that the men comply with the court orders.

She, however, acknowledged the sensitivity of the proposed policies, especially in an election year, and urged political leaders to act decisively once the political climate allows.

“I think they understand this, but they can’t afford to alienate our women or for people to be angry at them and quarrelling on social media. So, they have taken the safe route – to say that something has to be done, but we are not going to do or say anything right now,” she said. “But right after elections, whichever government (administration) comes in will have to make the hard decisions and do something.”

ROOM IN BUDGET

Responding to concerns about the affordability of her proposals, Crawford said there is room in the Budget to implement some of the proposals, “but it’s about what we are willing to do for the crisis that we have”.

Crawford pointed to countries like Japan and South Korea, where low fertility rates have resulted in rapidly ageing populations and labour shortages.

However, she cautioned that Jamaica lacks the social infrastructure and pension systems of these wealthier nations.

“We don’t have a pension system like other countries. We don’t have money. We don’t have imported labour. So if we don’t have children – we have nothing,” she said.

Crawford also cited data showing that individuals with children are statistically more likely to have caregivers in old age – up to 85 per cent more likely, according to global studies.

In December 2023, Jamaica, with a population of roughly three million people, recorded a fertility rate of 1.9 for the first time, falling below the internationally recognised replacement level of 2.1. The number of births for 2023 is 52,000.

The Reproductive Health Survey Jamaica (RHS), 2021 reported that Jamaica’s total fertility rate fell significantly, from 4.5 births per female between 1973 and 1975 to 1.9 in 2021, contributing to a decrease in the country’s population estimate.

Over the last 20 years, Jamaica has experienced significant changes in its population, with the average woman having about two children.

Sister Dawn Williams Gordon, the hospital’s ward manager of labour and delivery at the Victoria Jubilee Hospital, recently reported in a Gleaner article that birth deliveries at the country’s largest maternity facility, The Victoria Jubilee Hospital have tumbled from an average of more than 500 per month last year to just over 300.

At the same time, the country’s data also shows a declining 10- to 14-year-old child population and an increasing 15- to 64-year-old working-age population, coupled with a very fast-growing dependent elderly population of 65 and over.

Additionally, on average, a Jamaican can expect to live for around 75 years, and many have lived well beyond 80 years.

DISAPPOINTED BY MYOPIC VIEW

Pointing to the overwhelming celebratory comments online which accompanied The Gleaner article headlined ‘Baby shortage’, Crawford expressed disappointment at the myopic views of the women who have chorused the need to live their best lives and to focus more on their careers rather than on child-rearing, claiming its hard and bereft of government assistance.

However, Crawford, while conceding that motherhood is hard, said, “We are sowing the seeds of our own misery and when the harvest comes, it will be bitter to the taste.”

She further pushed back on the growing social narrative that equates childlessness with freedom, arguing that many women are unknowingly trading short-term relief for long-term emotional and social isolation.

“Many of us are saying, as young women, and women in general, that, ‘Oh, wi a live wi best life’. But that is not what the statistics are showing, because we have seen an increase in suicide attempts, depression, and those who need to seek active healthcare for depressive and suicidal thoughts, etc,” she said, noting that this is due to the absence of the necessary social network and the thwarting of the natural yearning for children.

Crawford concluded that failure to act now will leave both individuals and the State without support in the coming decades.

tanesha.mundle@gleanerjm.com