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Fertile Expectations

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Fertile Expectations

The politics of involuntary childlessness in twentieth-century France

Margaret Cook AndersenSeries: Studies in Modern French and Francophone History

(0)

Year

2025

Language

English

Manchester University Press

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About

An engaging history of motherhood, demography, and infertility in twentieth-century France, this book explores fraught political and cultural meanings attached to the notion of an "ideal" family size. When statistics revealed a sustained drop in France's birthrate, pronatalist activists pushed for financial benefits, propaganda, and punitive measures to counter declining fertility. Situating infertility within this history, the author details innovations in fertility medicine, cultural awareness of artificial insemination, and changing laws on child adoption. These practices offered new ways of responding to infertility and formed part of a growing expectation of being able to control one's fertility and family size. This book presents the political and cultural context for understanding why private questions about when to start a family, how many children to have, and how to cope with involuntary childlessness, evolved and became part of state demographic policies.

Related Subjects

Social History
History
Adult Nonfiction
Abortion & Birth Control
Social Science
France
Europe
General (Parenting)
Parenting
Family & Relationships
General (20th Century)
20th Century
Modern

Extended Details

SeriesStudies in Modern French and Francophone History

Artists

Margaret Cook AndersenAuthor