0:05

Hey, this is Annie and Samantha and welcome

0:07

to Stefan never told you a production of iHeartRadio.

0:18

And welcome and Happy Women's

0:21

International Day, International Women's Day.

0:23

That says it wrong, International Women's

0:25

Day.

0:26

Annie, Yes, Happy International

0:28

Women's Day to you as well.

0:29

And y'all, we are actually recording the day

0:32

of just to give you a

0:34

time frame. Yes, this is March eighth,

0:37

four and yeah, this is very

0:39

current affairs, so

0:41

everything we speak of is going to be relatively

0:44

current, so in the last couple of years

0:46

for sure. But yeah, it's International Women's

0:49

Day and what better day

0:51

than to talk about the declining

0:54

birth rate? No,

0:57

yeah, yes, that's

1:00

a hell of an introduction, right, yes, definitely,

1:05

And we're gonna go ahead and put a content warning

1:08

so we're not necessarily talking about anything

1:10

to a graphic, but there's going

1:12

to be a conversation about children

1:15

and babies and birthy and reproductive

1:17

health. So there you go, and

1:20

limited rights of women and marginalized

1:23

communities.

1:24

All right, let's have

1:26

ce Wenesday.

1:29

That's how we do it. So I think we talked about

1:31

this actually this week. We always

1:33

have these ideas for our shows, and we oftentimes,

1:37

especially me underestimate

1:40

how deep some of these topics

1:42

run. I will say I was able to

1:44

do this one in one episode,

1:48

I hope, unless we get to really

1:50

deep conversations, so I want to edit all that.

1:53

But yes, uh, this

1:56

is a little larger than

1:58

what I had, which we were going to do as a Monday

2:00

mini because I've

2:03

seen so many tiktoks about it and I was like, yes, we

2:05

need to talk about this, and I really thought

2:07

that this specific topic was going to be a

2:09

quick rundown of the declining

2:11

population and the people who have

2:13

refused to have more children as

2:15

a form of protests to the ill treatment

2:18

and constant abuse that they've had to

2:20

suffer at the hands of the patriarchy and misogynists

2:23

in Asian countries specifically.

2:26

But as per usual, while doing the

2:28

research, we found some

2:30

connections, some disturbing connections all

2:32

around the world on how politicians and

2:34

people in power i e. Men in

2:36

power and racists are trying

2:38

to find against people who can get pregnant and who are choosing

2:40

not to have children. So we've

2:43

had several episodes talking

2:46

about different perspectives on choosing

2:48

whether or not to have children. People

2:50

who are not physically able to have children and

2:52

for those who do have children, the good,

2:54

the bad, the difficulties, and the rewards.

2:57

We've talked about the sexism, racism, able

3:00

ism, and so many other isms when

3:02

it comes to the overturning of Roe v. Wade

3:05

and all the other violations that are part

3:07

of the aftermath. Go

3:10

back to our recent episode on the Comstock

3:12

Act. But today we're

3:14

not just talking about those who

3:17

have decided to go gett societal norms and

3:19

not star families, which is causing

3:22

a decline in birthsen and the population,

3:24

but also talking about the link between

3:26

the declining birth rate and current abortion

3:29

bands that are happening today. And that's just a

3:31

really minor part in this, but

3:33

we thought it was important to talk

3:35

about it because the link is there,

3:38

the connections are there, and we need to have

3:40

a broader conversation about that and where

3:42

we're going with this and where it

3:45

is getting frightening. It's been frightening.

3:47

So with all of that, let's talk

3:49

numbers. We love some numbers. According

3:51

to recent reports and data, the number of people

3:54

choosing not to have children has caused

3:56

a significant decline of the birth

3:58

rates, so much so that many

4:01

governments are approaching panic. To

4:03

try to adjust those numbers and

4:06

to help us discuss this topic, we wanted to add

4:09

this quote from visualcapitalist dot

4:11

com titles charted the rapid

4:13

decline of global birth rates, which

4:15

differentiates birth rate and fertility

4:18

rate so quote. Birth rates are

4:20

commonly measured using a metric called the

4:22

crude birth rate or CBR, which

4:24

represents the number of live births per

4:26

one thousand individuals in a given population

4:29

during a specific period, usually

4:31

one year. The measured decline

4:34

in CBR is also a result of plummeting

4:36

fertility rates across the globe. Not

4:38

to be confused with birth rates, fertility

4:41

rates measure how many children a woman will

4:43

have over the course of her lifetime. While

4:46

the country's birth rate is directly impacted

4:48

by the fertility rate, it also

4:50

takes into account other factors population

4:53

size, a structure of the population, access

4:55

to contraception, cultural norms, government

4:58

policies, and socioeconomic.

5:00

So with that, a research article

5:03

that we found on the United Nations Population's

5:05

fund Are UNFPA

5:07

titled policy responses to low

5:10

Fertility? How effective are they? Says

5:12

quote. In the last three decades,

5:14

sub replacement fertility has spread

5:17

around the world one

5:19

half of the global population today lives

5:21

in countries where the period total fertility

5:24

rate is below two point one burst

5:26

per woman. East Asia, Southern

5:28

Europe, and parts of Central, Eastern

5:30

and Southeastern Europe reached ultra

5:33

low fertility rates, with the period

5:35

total fertility at one to

5:37

one point four and family size at one

5:40

point four to one point six verths per

5:42

woman born in the mid nineteen

5:44

seventies.

5:45

Right, and the information that was

5:47

released in twenty twenty three seems to only

5:50

confirm these ideas, so that was from twenty

5:52

nineteen. According to the same Visualcapitalist

5:55

dot com, every country on

5:57

the list has seen a decline in birth rates

5:59

in the last seventy years, with some

6:01

declines more staggering than the others.

6:03

For example, China recorded forty

6:05

one births per one thousand people in nineteen

6:08

fifty. By twenty twenty one, that

6:10

number had fallen to just seven point six

6:12

at an eighty one percent decrease. South

6:15

Korea, the twenty ninth most populous

6:17

country in the world in twenty twenty one, saw

6:19

an even larger eighty six percent

6:22

drop in its birth rates since nineteen

6:24

fifty. In fact, almost

6:26

every single country in this data set

6:28

has seen a double digit fall in their birth

6:30

rates over the past seventy years. Only

6:33

the Democratic Republic of Congo has

6:35

seen a single digit percentage decline between

6:37

nineteen fifty and twenty twenty one. And

6:41

you know what's happening with the DRC.

6:43

So I feel like those numbers are askewed.

6:46

And the list they show or talk about is

6:48

quote a snapshot of the CBR for

6:50

the forty nine most populous countries of the world

6:53

at different years from nineteen fifty to twenty

6:55

twenty one. Just to add some contexts, right.

6:58

The Economists featured in an article in twenty two three

7:00

addressing the possible consequences of the

7:02

declining birth rate. The article says, quote,

7:05

and they're roughly two hundred and fifty years since

7:07

the Industrial Revolution. The world's population,

7:09

like its wealth, has exploded. Before

7:12

the end of the century, however, the number of people

7:14

on the planet could shrink for the

7:16

first time since the Black Death.

7:19

The root cause is not a surge

7:21

in deaths, but a slump and burse

7:24

across much of the world. The fertility rate, the

7:26

average number of burst per woman, is collapsing,

7:30

and it continues quote in two thousand,

7:32

the world's fertility rate was two point seven burst

7:34

per woman, comfortably above the replacement

7:37

rate of two point one at which a

7:39

population is stable. Today it is two

7:41

point three and falling. The

7:43

largest fifteen countries by GDP all

7:46

have a fertility rate below the replacement

7:48

rate. That includes America

7:51

and much of the rich world, but also China

7:53

and India, neither of which is rich,

7:55

but which together account for more than a third

7:57

of global population. The

8:00

result is that in much of the world, the

8:02

patter of tiny feet is being drowned out

8:04

by the clatter of walking sticks. The

8:06

prime examples of Asian countries are no

8:08

longer just Japan and Italy, but also

8:11

include Brazil, Mexico, and Thailand.

8:14

By twenty thirty, more than half the inhabitants

8:16

of East and Southeast Asia will be over

8:18

forty. As the old dye and are not

8:21

fully replaced, populations are likely

8:23

to shrink. Outside Africa, the

8:25

world's population is forecast to peak in

8:27

the twenty fifties and end the centuries

8:29

smaller than it is today. Even in

8:31

Africa, the fertility rate is falling

8:34

fast.

8:35

So of course, the reasons behind

8:37

the lower birth rates may differ all over

8:39

the world, as does the possible

8:41

solutions, But according to the earlier

8:44

article from UNFPA, quote, among

8:46

the main drivers of low fertility is

8:48

the incompatibility between professional career

8:51

and family life. In times of women's

8:53

massive post secondary education and labor

8:55

force participation on the one hand,

8:57

and rising individualistic aspirations

9:00

on the other hand, the inability to combine

9:02

paid work with child rearing often

9:04

results in childlessness or having

9:06

one child only. This is closely

9:09

connected with persistent gender inequalities

9:11

and housework divisions. For decades,

9:14

societies with strong traditional gender role

9:16

norms have been continuously witnessing

9:18

very low fertility. More recent

9:20

factors contributing to fertility decline

9:22

include the trend towards intensive parenting,

9:25

as well as labor market uncertainty and

9:27

instability coupled with soaring house

9:29

prices. And though

9:32

some narratives may try to point at

9:34

feminism and it's kind of true and

9:36

the overall lack of desire for children in the first

9:38

place as the reason for birth rates

9:40

declining, there's a lot of research

9:42

showing that desirability for children hasn't

9:45

gone down at all.

9:56

Yeah. I actually read an interesting

9:58

article kind of relating to to this the other day

10:01

about how a lot of

10:03

parents can only afford to have one kid, like they want

10:05

kids, but they can only have the run. So there's this like

10:08

really big explosion of single

10:11

only children. But that puts

10:13

pressure on them because, at least in the US,

10:16

a lot of times the children have to pay for your

10:19

parents when they get older, when they get sicker, and

10:22

so it's sort of causing this

10:25

this really negative effect

10:28

of these kids

10:30

not being able to afford that and kind of getting

10:33

really in bad financial

10:35

situations because they're the only child,

10:38

which is right, A lot of that situation is

10:40

messed up anyway, Like we shouldn't write our

10:42

medical system in the US is not

10:45

good exactly but exactly. I

10:47

thought that was interesting because I hadn't really considered

10:49

that before.

10:50

Well, I've definitely been told many times, who's

10:52

going to take care of you when you were old?

10:54

Yes, me too, exactly how are

10:56

you going.

10:56

To be all alone?

10:57

I think? Mom? Thanks?

11:03

Okay, Well, here's

11:05

a quote from the Conversation dot com about

11:08

the US birth rates and some data they had found

11:10

during their research. Quote. We found

11:12

remarkable consistency and childbearing

11:14

goals across cohorts. For example,

11:17

if we look at teenage girls in the nineteen eighties,

11:19

the cohort born in nineteen sixty

11:21

five to sixty nine, they planned

11:24

to have two point two children on average.

11:26

Among the same age group in the early twenty

11:28

first century, the cohort born in nineteen

11:30

ninety five to nineteen ninety nine girls

11:33

intended to have two point one children on average.

11:35

Slightly more young people planned to have no

11:38

children now than thirty years ago, but still

11:40

the vast majority of US young adults

11:42

planned to have kids, around eighty eight

11:44

percent of teenage girls and eighty nine

11:46

percent of teenage boys. We

11:49

also found that as they themselves get older,

11:51

people plan to have fewer children, but

11:54

not by much. This pattern

11:56

was also pretty consistent across cohorts

11:59

among those born in nighte teen seventy five to seventy

12:01

nine. For instance, men and women when they

12:03

were twenty to twenty four planned to have

12:05

an average of two point three and two

12:07

point five children, respectively. These

12:10

averages fell slightly to two point one children

12:13

for men and two point two children for women

12:15

by the time respondents for thirty five to thirty

12:17

nine. Still, overwhelmingly

12:20

most Americans plan to have children, and the average

12:22

intended number of children is right around.

12:24

Two Right and I think you and I have

12:26

talked about when we saw ourselves in

12:28

early twenties, we really thought

12:31

by twenty five we would have two

12:33

children. I had

12:35

two children in mind, it had

12:37

to be an even number. And I just saw TikTok about

12:39

that about how like because one of them will be alone

12:42

of activities are like if they have to ride

12:44

a plane and then you have to separate, like all these

12:47

things about wanting to have either two

12:49

or four to make sure that didn't

12:51

happen, And I was like, yeah,

12:53

and also like the middle child syndrome, the fact

12:55

that you don't want to have one middle child of

12:57

the three because that's too traumatic. At least have two

12:59

so I.

13:00

Can bond as

13:02

a middle child.

13:05

Of course I would not. I'd never plan to have a big

13:07

family. I also had

13:09

said that it would depend on my

13:11

husband, like even being very much

13:13

into the like the Jesus world,

13:16

I knew that if I was doing this alone, Hellna.

13:21

Right, Yeah, I mean

13:23

that's another factor to consider in

13:25

this conversation.

13:26

Right, But I really did think that I was going to

13:28

have that many children. And then as I

13:30

get older and older, and at this point it's almost

13:33

almost too late, I say, not really but because

13:35

like I have friends my age who

13:37

just had children. I'm like, congratulations, and they're

13:39

all happy and healthy, and I love that for them. But like, up

13:43

until recently, like the last three four

13:45

years, I could not have afforded. I

13:47

was living with people, I was actually having

13:49

roommates. So there's no way to me that

13:52

I could have actually had a child to pay

13:54

for all the things and had a full time job,

13:56

and like the amount

13:58

of responsibility to me was

14:02

too much, and just the thought of it made me

14:04

have a panic attack.

14:07

Yeah, that's one

14:09

of the things that frustrates me the most. And I'll

14:11

see sort of the like millennials

14:14

or whatever generation that's younger is rooting

14:16

everything. They're not buying houses, they're not getting

14:18

kids, Like we can't afford it, right, I

14:21

mean, this is different. I'm

14:23

sure plenty of people would like to, but actually

14:25

it's kind of a responsible decision to be like, you

14:27

know what, I can't afford

14:29

it. It's sad if you want kids

14:31

and you can't afford them, but it is thought

14:34

is going into it of like Okay,

14:37

I can't do this right now.

14:38

And I'm sure many people will be like we turned

14:40

out fine. We weren't rich all these things, But then you

14:42

also have to be like, yeah, but there's also a lot of trauma,

14:46

not a lot of people who are not okay, So

14:48

I just don't forget that far, Like,

14:51

yes, for sure, absolutely, And this

14:53

is not even adding on to like health

14:55

issues. So if you are a disabled individual

14:58

trying to manage all of that on

15:01

top of like, there's so many two points

15:03

to this conversation that we even

15:05

leave out because all of these studies and all of these

15:07

incentives and I should have put this at the top, are

15:09

very much based on a heteronormative CISC

15:12

couple and an ablistic idea

15:14

that they are perfectly able to have children without

15:16

complications. So because

15:19

yeah, one of the things that we are not going to mention, and

15:21

here's the medical expenses, which

15:23

should be one of the number one things because well,

15:27

the US being the biggest problem with like

15:29

sulbsized healthcare anyway,

15:32

mumble mumble, because the healthcare sucks. But

15:35

when we talk about that in general, that

15:37

the cost of all of that is also

15:39

a problem, but we don't mention that here. And again

15:42

when we're talking about these who they are actually

15:45

going after especially and

15:49

these countries they're going after a heteronormative

15:52

couples because we don't

15:54

mention it. But like Japanese government is not focused

15:56

at all on the queer community, as

15:58

in fact, it's almost like doubling down saying

16:00

that they don't need rights at one point. So

16:04

just a reminder. Yeah,

16:06

and along with all the facts found in the

16:08

UNFPA article, it speaks

16:10

to the fact that many couples are waiting much

16:13

later to have children, which may limit

16:15

the amount of because they intend to have they

16:17

write compared with earlier eras

16:19

people today start having their children later,

16:23

these delays also contribute to declining

16:25

birth rates. Because people start

16:28

later, they have less time to meet their child

16:30

bearing goals before they reach biological

16:32

or social age limits for having kids.

16:34

As people wait longer to start having children,

16:37

they are also more likely to change their minds

16:39

about parenting.

16:40

And yes, that's where I am, y'all. But

16:45

they also note that the reasons stated

16:47

earlier were very much linked

16:49

to the decline. The article continues, but

16:51

why are people getting a later start on having

16:53

kids? We hypothesize that Americans

16:56

see parenthood is harder to manage than

16:58

they might have in the past. Although

17:00

the US economy overall recovered after

17:02

the Great Recession. Many young people

17:04

in particular feel uncertain

17:07

about their ability to achieve some of

17:09

the things they see as necessary for having children,

17:12

including a good job, a staple relationship,

17:14

and safe, affordable housing. At

17:17

the same time, the cost of raising children,

17:19

from childcare and housing to college education

17:22

are rising, and parents

17:24

may feel more pressure to live up to

17:26

high intensive parenting standards and

17:29

prepare their children for an uncertain world.

17:32

Yeah, all of that is absolute

17:34

reasons for me that I decided

17:36

I did not want to have children. Now we've

17:39

gotten the general numbers and facts, so we've got

17:41

a good base. We're going to look more closely

17:43

at some of the countries that have been making headlines

17:46

when it comes to this conversation,

17:49

and we will start with the original idea behind

17:51

this episode of the Asian countries, and we're

17:53

only focused on three majors. Don't come

17:55

at me because there's so much more out there. But we were just

17:57

trying to get examples, and we're talking

17:59

about the way men who've made a not so

18:01

subtle statement, you know, Like

18:05

we've talked a little bit about the feminist movement

18:07

in South Korea and the activists who've been

18:09

fighting back against at an administration

18:11

that has been using every misogynistic

18:13

tactic to reverse a lot of

18:16

the work that seemed to be happening once upon

18:18

a time when it came to moving forward in

18:20

feminism and that included

18:22

the four BE Movement. Check out our Feminists

18:24

around the World episode we talked about, but

18:27

just as a quicker reminder, the four BE movement is

18:29

the four Nos, which originated in twenty

18:31

eighteen twenty nineteen, according

18:33

to Like being public and

18:36

stands for no sex with men, no child rearing,

18:38

no dating men, and no marriage

18:40

to men. And although this is a simple

18:42

version of what the overall movement means, the

18:45

stance is to amplify the stark disadvantage

18:47

is placed on women in the nation, as well

18:49

as the overall abusive nature of the patriarchal

18:52

state of the country. And this

18:54

with the attributing factors we mentioned before,

18:56

it's not surprising that South Korea is currently

18:58

the number one country with the lowest

19:01

current birth rate in the world, and it's been like

19:03

that for about three four years.

19:06

Well. According to a recent

19:09

BBC article published this month, South

19:11

Korea has the lowest birth rate in the world

19:13

and it continues to plummet, beating its

19:15

own staggeringly low record year

19:18

after year. Figures released

19:20

on Wednesdays show it fell by another eight

19:22

percent and twenty twenty three to zero

19:24

point seven to two. This refers

19:27

to the number of children a woman is expected

19:29

to have in her lifetime for a population

19:31

to hold study, that number should be two

19:33

point one. If this trend continues,

19:36

Korea's population is estimated to have

19:38

by the year twenty one hundred.

19:41

Right, I don't know where North Korea

19:43

comes into the play with this. I'm

19:46

guessing it doesn't because the statistics

19:48

aren't from there. But that's

19:50

that's that's drastic and

19:52

honestly, yeah, like we said, this may

19:55

be one of those situations where

19:57

they could blame feminism for

19:59

the declining population because

20:02

the people they've had enough for

20:04

many of the women in Korea, they have learned that having

20:06

a child could not only be adding on more responsibility,

20:09

but also cost them their job, their

20:11

independence, and overall their freedom.

20:14

According to the same BBC article, they say the

20:16

Korean women know too much. Essentially,

20:19

One twenty eight year old woman who worked in HR

20:21

said she's seen people who were forced to leave

20:23

their jobs or who were passed over for promotions

20:26

after taking a maternity leave, which had

20:28

been enough to convince her to never

20:31

have a baby. Korean women are

20:33

the most highly educated of those in

20:35

the OECD countries, and yet

20:37

the country has the worst gender pay gap

20:40

in a higher than average proportion of women out

20:42

of work compared to men. Researchers

20:45

say this proves they're being presented

20:47

with a trade off have a career

20:50

or have a family. Increasingly

20:52

they are choosing a career, and

20:54

for those who would gladly choose family over career,

20:57

they can't afford to do it. The article

20:59

will continue. More than half the population

21:01

live in or around the capital

21:04

Soul, which is where the vast majority

21:06

of opportunities are, creating

21:08

huge pressure on apartments

21:10

and resources. Soul's birth rate

21:12

has sunk to zero point five point

21:14

five, the lowest in the country. Then

21:16

there's the cost of private education. While

21:20

unaffordable housing is a problem the world

21:22

over. This is what makes Korea truly

21:25

unique.

21:26

But housing isn't the only

21:28

problem. The price for education for children

21:30

also adds up. Here's another quote

21:33

from the age of four. Children are sent to an

21:35

array of expensive extracurricular classes,

21:38

from mass and English to music. In taekwondo.

21:41

The practice is so widespread that to opt

21:44

out is seen as setting your child

21:46

up to fail, an inconceivable

21:48

notion in hyper competitive Korea,

21:50

this has made it the most expensive country

21:52

in the world to raise a child. A

21:55

twenty twenty two study found that only

21:57

two percent of parents did not pay for

21:59

private too days well ninety four

22:01

percent said it was a financial burden.

22:04

And y'all, if you've watched any K dramas,

22:08

you know this is true. Like people will get real

22:10

really like people have died according

22:13

to the K dramas.

22:14

Oh my goodness.

22:16

Trying to get these kids into these classes, and

22:18

like it's it is like, from what I

22:20

understand, people private tutors who are

22:23

acclaimed they're almost as

22:25

famous as K pop people like wow,

22:29

education is very valued and we've kind of always

22:31

known this to the point that it became a joke. But

22:34

it is costly, which I'm

22:37

like, huh. I always think, I'm like, what, I've

22:39

been one of those two percent that didn't make it. Probably

22:41

oh sad me. And of course this

22:44

all comes with the expectation that

22:46

women will continue their level of housework

22:49

and child rearing at the same time. Is helping

22:51

with income. That BBC article continues,

22:54

over the past fifty years, Korea's

22:57

economy has developed a breaknext

23:00

propelling women into higher education and

23:02

the workforce and explaining their

23:04

ambition, But the roles of wife and

23:06

mother have not evolved at nearly

23:09

the same price. And still

23:11

I think there's a whole thing about in laws

23:13

too, and who takes care of them, and

23:16

it's the wife. Like it's this like

23:18

over the top understanding that you are taking

23:20

over not only your own household but his household.

23:23

And in some respect that

23:25

tradition is still pretty steeped. And

23:28

the government I've seen it coming

23:30

and instead of seeing that they need to actually

23:33

talk to those that's affected by

23:35

it. But the most they try to throw some

23:37

money at their problems.

23:39

Of course, here's

23:51

the quote from a March

23:53

twenty twenty four article published in Time

23:56

dot com. President Moonjayan launched

23:58

several policies to try and incentivize

24:00

women to have more children, including

24:02

cash incentives for families. Under

24:05

the scheme, every child born from twenty

24:07

twenty two onwards receives a cash bonus

24:09

of two million, one eight

24:12

hundred and fifty US dollars to help

24:14

cover prenatal expenses. In addition

24:16

to a monthly payout that increases every

24:18

month until the baby turns one. Other

24:21

incentives include free day care, subsidized

24:23

pay during childcare leave, and even

24:26

group blind dates for public servants

24:28

to try and match make couples.

24:31

Oh yeah, so they can help.

24:32

So.

24:33

In fact, the country has spent an estimated

24:35

two hundred billion US dollars

24:37

to try to fix this problem, but

24:40

as of today hasn't resulted to

24:42

any changes, and they've tried

24:44

other solutions, including hiring nannies

24:47

from Southeast Asian countries and

24:49

paying them below minimum wage

24:52

gross gross, trying

24:55

to incentivize exempting men from

24:57

military services if they have children

24:59

when at the under the age of thirty,

25:02

which sounds like a misdirect but apparently,

25:04

according to another study, men are

25:06

part of the big problem too as well, maybe

25:08

because they can't find women. I

25:11

don't know, but I said that and

25:14

other texts like this. But it

25:17

wasn't until just recently that the politicians,

25:19

and I mean like twenty twenty three, that

25:22

the politicians realize that maybe talking

25:24

to the citizens, specifically women

25:27

or those who can give birth, may be helpful.

25:30

And yeah, in the past year they have been going around

25:32

the country talking to the younger generations.

25:34

But yeah, still no results as of yet

25:36

that we have.

25:37

Seen or talked about.

25:39

I haven't seen any published saying that that's helping

25:41

and anybody's changing their minds, because most

25:43

of them are not. And

25:46

China has been going through a similar

25:48

decline. Of course, the history of

25:50

China and babies not good.

25:53

Not good. In nineteen eighty, the Chinese

25:55

government implemented the one child policy,

25:58

which was so strict that women were into

26:00

situations they did not choose for themselves.

26:03

According to an article written for the Global Institute

26:05

of Women's Leadership, a Chinese researcher wrote,

26:07

for thirty five years from nineteen eighty to

26:09

twenty fifteen, the Chinese

26:11

government maintained a one child

26:13

policy, subjecting millions of women

26:16

to force contraception, for sterilization,

26:18

and forced abortion, and there have

26:20

been stories about the level of cruelty the

26:22

government would use in order to maintain

26:24

that one child policy, including killing,

26:27

the killing of newborn infants, kidnapping

26:29

of women if they had were on their

26:31

second or more pregnancy, or even

26:33

taking family members of the pregnant person

26:36

as hostages if that expectant

26:39

person was in hiding, so they went

26:41

all out, and it was in twenty

26:43

sixteen, a year after they dropped

26:45

the one child policy, the government

26:47

increased it to two and it now has

26:50

risen to a three child policy, allowing

26:52

people to have up to three children now

26:56

right, But.

26:58

There are many who are so ch traumatized

27:00

by the past policies that

27:03

they still live as if

27:05

they are still under those policies. Here's

27:07

a quote from an article from NPR.

27:10

The policy permeates through Chinese

27:12

society in other, sometimes unexpected

27:15

ways, because many prioritized

27:17

having a son over a daughter. Orphotages

27:19

experienced a surge, and baby girls who

27:22

are abandoned or put up for adoption. Singles

27:24

Day, China's biggest online shopping holiday

27:27

akin to Black Friday in the US, is

27:29

a recognition of the many bachelors

27:31

who are unable to find partners in a gender

27:33

skewed society.

27:35

So that could be part of the reason. It could be, But

27:37

the understanding is also there's still kind of a preference

27:40

to men two boys,

27:43

which doesn't make sense. Yeah,

27:46

and the greatest scream of things, But

27:48

I digress. And though

27:51

they have changed the policy since then and now

27:53

seem to recognize that there may be a problem

27:55

with the fact that the population has declined. They

27:58

have been second largest. For the past

28:00

few years, India has been number

28:02

one for the most populous, which seems

28:04

to be a blow to the nation's ego. That

28:07

surprised me, how figured that's what they wanted. But okay,

28:09

but their new policies hasn't changed

28:11

the birthway.

28:12

Yes, adding on to the imbalance

28:15

of gender in the population, the cost of living

28:17

in gender inequality has also affected the

28:19

numbers, much like South Korea. According

28:21

to CNBC, as more women

28:23

attain higher qualifications and rise up

28:25

the ranks in the workplace, they expect their husbands

28:28

to earn more than them. In twenty twenty,

28:30

female students accounted for almost forty two

28:32

percent of doctorate degree enrollment and

28:34

a significantly higher number of women enrolled

28:37

for a master's degree than men. Satista

28:40

data showed.

28:41

Yeah, and of course, so that means people

28:43

have been twosier when

28:45

it comes to finding their man, to

28:48

the point that people have been throwing money

28:50

people, governments and corporations

28:52

haven't thrown money at men to make

28:55

them look better for mating

28:57

purposes. Like, I don't know how else to say that.

29:02

I mean, you're right, but it sounds so like

29:06

documentary.

29:06

Nafety cut is this is where we're

29:08

going at and just as a reminder,

29:11

but this still is the expectation that women will

29:14

take on all the household work and

29:16

that women have less rights and

29:19

will be responsible for

29:21

this entirety

29:23

of growth of populations essentially, and

29:26

of course add to that the rising

29:28

costs of housing and supplies as we talked about

29:30

earlier, along with the increase of children

29:32

allowed per household, the government and even corporations

29:35

have tried to add incentives for people to have more children.

29:37

Trip dot Com has tried to help with

29:39

the situation. Specifically, according

29:41

to that same CNBC article, trip dot

29:44

com is one Chinese company that takes

29:46

pride in trying to encourage more women to have

29:48

children. In an organization

29:50

where more than half of its thirty thousand employees

29:53

are women, the online travel agency

29:55

came up with its own solution to encourage women

29:57

in the company to have more children, and

30:00

a part of that instead of is offering subsidies

30:02

to help with the cost of freezing

30:04

eggs, which actually kind of smart to

30:06

me, Yeah, because

30:08

they do talk about the fact that that time frame

30:11

that women specifically use to

30:13

get their career and all that stabilized

30:16

is that, you know, I guess the

30:19

critical time, but it's a short time,

30:21

so they can actually help them pause

30:24

that process. Maybe that will increase

30:26

in the likelihood that they will have children later on.

30:28

They were talking about this and they helped

30:31

by giving this money, which

30:34

ranges from fifteen thousand dollars

30:36

to three hundred thousand dollars. Again,

30:39

kind of a smart idea. I might have done that, to

30:41

be honest, not now with the IVF stuff in

30:44

the US. No, but you know, like this is

30:46

like to me, it's one of the smart plans.

30:48

I don't know.

30:50

Yeah, yeah.

30:52

I saw a flyer once at my university.

30:54

I was like, we'll pay you this much money to freeze your

30:56

eggs. And I thought about it, but then I was like, why

31:00

I.

31:00

Had people who said they want my eggs.

31:02

Oh, they would pay you for your eggs?

31:05

Really, you know,

31:07

you know you didn't get

31:09

those the only.

31:11

One I mean, I saw a flyer. I don't recall

31:13

an.

31:15

I got an email like okay,

31:17

okay, Like I was like what and I thought about

31:19

it for a split seconds, not gonna lie, like, but

31:22

they wanted white babies, so didn't

31:24

help.

31:28

Well, the government has tried

31:30

a few tactics as well. Going back to China.

31:33

According to Time Quote, Chinese government

31:35

also tried to introduce new policies to

31:37

encourage couples to have more children,

31:39

enhance childcare, and improve housing

31:41

facilities for families with children. Recently,

31:44

some academics have even proposed

31:47

taxing couples for having too few children

31:50

while making access to abortion and divorce

31:52

harder. M and

31:55

yeah pay attention to that last part, limiting

31:57

access to divorce and abortions right.

32:00

So. The Japanese birth rate has also

32:02

been greatly declining, very similar

32:05

to South Korea. Many have chosen not to have children

32:07

due to the inequality and gender rights and opportunities,

32:09

as well as the overall financial burden of

32:12

having a family.

32:13

According to financialpolicy dot com

32:15

quote, today Japanese women on average

32:17

have just one point twenty six children, far

32:20

below the rate of two point one children per

32:22

woman, considered by demographers

32:24

as necessary to maintain a stable population.

32:27

Up to forty percent of adult Japanese women

32:29

and fifty percent of men will not

32:31

have children in their lifetime according

32:34

to government estimates.

32:36

And again, much like South Korea,

32:38

a lot of the reasons boiled down to the

32:40

cost of living, cost of education for children,

32:42

and according to the same foreign policy dot Com

32:44

article, the cost for childcare alone

32:46

in Japan for two children is about

32:49

half the earnings of a couple who

32:51

have full time incomes, and

32:54

the wages have barely been raised in

32:56

the past thirty years, so significant

32:58

amount. And just the overall

33:00

lack of interest in being married, although

33:03

that could also have something to do with the affordability.

33:06

So here's another quote from Foreign policy dot

33:08

Com. It's not just the desire

33:10

to have children that's diminished. Surveys

33:13

point to waning interest in relationships

33:16

and sex, especially

33:18

among young people. For Haruku

33:20

Sakamato, a researcher at the Department of Global

33:22

Health Policies at the University of Tokyo, this

33:25

too is an economic story.

33:28

Young people, she explained, simply do not

33:30

earn enough to plan for the long term,

33:32

making stable relationships seem far fetched.

33:35

She says, while in the past people have explained

33:38

Japan's low sex and relationship

33:40

culture as steaming from interest in anime

33:42

and fictional characters that supplant interest

33:45

in real life relationships, is actually

33:47

an economic issue. I

33:50

just really like that they blame the anime on this. So

33:54

and the article continues. Michika

33:56

uit A Balmer, a political scientist at

33:58

Syracuse University in the US who

34:01

studies social isolation among Japanese

34:03

youth, said, many young Japanese women

34:05

would like to get buried, but they

34:08

simply cannot afford it. Survey

34:10

data shows that young people don't have the

34:12

financial stability necessarity

34:14

build themselves as a viable partner.

34:17

The result is that people don't get married.

34:20

And because Japan has the lowest rate of children

34:22

born outside of marriage among developed countries,

34:25

this also means they are unlikely

34:27

to have children. So

34:30

in twenty thirteen, they had

34:32

what was considered women nomics policies,

34:35

which quote promised to integrate women into

34:37

the workforce and propel them to hire paying

34:40

jobs. But the policy

34:42

hasn't solved women's economic

34:44

problems. So,

34:47

like many other nations, women

34:49

were not only responsible for the house, home, and children,

34:52

but they also took on the financial responsibility

34:54

abortion as well.

34:55

Here's another quote in the Age

34:57

of Women Nomics, Japanese women are caught

35:00

in a double bind. High living costs

35:02

mean they are no longer expected to stop

35:04

working once they have children, Yet because

35:06

they still bear the brunt of domestic work.

35:08

Even Japan's generous parental leap benefits,

35:11

which few men choose to take, are

35:13

not enough to insulate women from the pressure

35:15

to drop out of the labor force after having children.

35:18

Even highly educated women who

35:20

leave the labor force after having children

35:23

struggle to eventually reintegrate back

35:25

into it. Some fear that in case

35:27

of divorce they'll be unable to stay afloat

35:29

financially, in part because of

35:32

the stark gender pay gap.

35:33

So the Japanese government has followed suit

35:35

with many of the East Asian countries. Late

35:38

twenty twenty three, the Prime Minister announced

35:40

and estimated twenty two billion dollars

35:42

to childcare spending in order to help the

35:44

birth rate, and he plans to increase

35:47

subsidized housing for families with children and

35:49

flexible work hours. Of course,

35:51

as we've seen, money may not be

35:54

the answer to all the problems.

35:56

But hey, I guess he's trying, I

36:01

will say, and we're going to talk about this in

36:03

the sec better than what the US is

36:05

doing.

36:06

That's true.

36:08

And though we just used again these three

36:10

countries for the examples, the

36:12

steady decline of birthrate has been

36:14

seen throughout the world. Taiwan

36:16

has spent over three billion dollars trying

36:19

to encourage people to have more children, including

36:22

more parental leave and large

36:24

increases in salary and

36:26

in fact, one presidential candidate offered

36:29

a free bet if they have a child. I'm not

36:31

gonna lie. That could have worked on me too.

36:32

Then you have to pay for the pet.

36:34

I know, I know, I don't know that he added money to that,

36:36

but I was like, well, that's an interesting time.

36:38

I've got to pay for the kid in the pet.

36:43

And according to the Vox article titles,

36:46

you can't even pay people to have more

36:48

kids quote. Other countries have

36:50

tried direct payments to parents. Russia

36:52

began offering a one time some of about

36:54

seven thousand dollars to families with

36:56

more than two kids, while Italy and Greece

36:59

have experimented with per child baby

37:01

bonuses. In twenty nineteen, Hungary

37:03

introduced a loan of about thirty thousand

37:06

dollars to newlyweds if

37:08

they have three children, the loan is forgiven.

37:13

I actually saw something. I think it's Sweden.

37:17

Y'all correct me if I'm wrong that

37:19

literally are trying to bring people in

37:21

with children, Oh wow,

37:23

twoth and they'll they'll give you and then you have to live there

37:25

for ten years and they'll give you money

37:28

and incentives.

37:29

I had a friend that moved to Sweden. I should to ask her,

37:31

what's okay?

37:32

I think Sweden. It's one of the s European

37:35

countries. So y'all tell me Switzerland,

37:38

Sweden?

37:39

Sure?

37:39

Okay?

37:41

And yes, again, declining

37:43

birthrate includes the US, so

37:46

we said this earlier. The US, the

37:49

birth rate of the population is declining. Here's

37:51

a quote from that same Fox article,

37:53

which is mentioned in the US,

37:56

the birthrate has been falling since the Great Recession,

37:58

dropping almost twenty three percent between

38:01

twenty seven and twenty twenty two. Today,

38:03

the average American woman has about one

38:05

point six children, down down

38:08

from three in nineteen fifty and significantly

38:11

below the replacement rate of two point one children

38:13

needed to sustain a stable population.

38:16

And as we mentioned previously, many people have decided

38:18

to wait to have children.

38:21

And though the birth rate has declined overall, the

38:23

birth rate for people thirty five to thirty nine

38:25

has actually increased. According to Census

38:27

dot Gov. In the thirty year period, it

38:30

has increased by sixty seven percent.

38:32

Here's a bit from cnn dot Com from the article

38:34

titled fertility rates dip People are

38:36

having babies later the stage of birth

38:39

rates in the US. Quote. Birth rates

38:41

have declined in most states across

38:43

the US in recent years, while women are having babies

38:45

at an older age. According to new

38:47

data released by the US Centers for Disease

38:50

Control and Prevention and

38:52

it continues, birth rates among

38:54

women in their late thirties and early forties

38:56

rose in the last decade, and the birth rate

38:59

among women over forty five also

39:01

exceeded one birth per one thousand population

39:04

for the first time in more than a decade.

39:06

Meanwhile, the teen birth rate dropped to a record

39:09

blow. In twenty twenty two, there were

39:11

thirteen point five burths for every one thy

39:13

teens ages fifteen to nineteen, down

39:15

from thirteen point nine in twenty twenty one. According

39:18

to the new CDC data.

39:21

Thirteen then, yeah,

39:24

those numbers are so high,

39:27

and I feel like they are purposeful, especially

39:29

now. And though there was a small

39:31

increase during the initial pandemic and lockdown,

39:34

nothing shows any actual signs of the race

39:36

on the on the incline. Here's

39:38

a quote from the scene an article. Despite

39:41

the short term plunge and comeback

39:43

during the early years of the COVID pandemic,

39:45

the race have been consistently trending

39:47

down. Nearly three point seven million

39:50

babies were born in twenty twenty two. According

39:52

to the CDC analysis of birth certificates,

39:54

the overall fertility rate was fifty

39:56

six point one births per one thousand

39:58

women ages fifteen to four twenty four, holding

40:01

relatively steady from the rate of fifty six point

40:03

three in twenty twenty one. After a sharp

40:05

drop in twenty twenty, birth rates rose in twenty

40:08

twenty one, the first increase since twenty

40:10

fourteen, but the numbers still reflect

40:12

the declines that began before the pandemic.

40:24

Okay, of course, unlike the other countries,

40:27

US hasn't been publicly talking

40:30

about the population decline or

40:32

even talking about policy changes directly

40:34

related to having more children, such

40:37

as giving money to parents directly helping

40:39

childcare costs, or the such. Although

40:42

they did alter some tax deductions

40:44

for children, they made higher

40:46

tax deductions and gave a little more

40:49

incentive, but I definitely did

40:51

not seem as it was about population control

40:53

or population increase. But

40:56

much like how we mentioned, China has been doing

40:58

more restricted when it comes to abortion access

41:00

and divorce. The US

41:02

has implemented the same practices,

41:05

but using alternative languages

41:07

for it. So during campaign runs for

41:09

the Republican Party, a couple of significant

41:11

figures may have said the quiet

41:13

part out loud. In

41:15

twenty twenty three, Nebraska Republican

41:17

state senator used an old racist

41:20

theory to argue for the ban on abortion.

41:23

According to New republic dot com

41:26

quote, Senator Steve Erdman decided

41:28

that the best argument in favor of the

41:30

ban was quote the Great Replacement

41:32

theory, which the Southern Poverty Law

41:34

Center defines as quote racist

41:37

conspiracy narrative that falsely asserts

41:40

there's an active, ongoing and covert

41:42

effort to replace white populations

41:45

in current white majority countries.

41:47

Our state populations have not grown except

41:49

by those foreigners who've moved here or refugees

41:52

who've been placed here, Erman told the chamber, and

41:54

it continues. Erman also says that

41:56

all of the aborted fetuses could

41:58

be working and filling some of those positions

42:01

that we have vacancies in response to

42:03

jobs.

42:05

Okay, yeah, yeah.

42:07

Yeah, So before

42:09

we continue, so here's a look about the

42:12

Here's a quick look at the Great Replacement theory

42:15

from a PREBIS article simply put

42:17

the conspiracy theory says there's a plot

42:19

to diminish the influence of white people. Believers

42:22

say this goal is being achieved both through

42:24

the immigration of non white people into societies

42:27

that have largely been dominated by white

42:29

people, as well as through simple

42:31

demographics, with white people having lower birth

42:33

rates than other populations.

42:36

And how does all of that equal

42:38

to combating of the declining

42:40

birth rate. Here's some more from Senator

42:43

Erdmann. According to Vice dot com,

42:45

our state population has not grown except

42:47

by those foreigners who have moved. Here are refugees

42:50

who have been placed here. Why is that?

42:52

It's because we've killed two hundred thousand

42:55

people. These are people we've

42:57

killed. Erdmann said during debate after

42:59

lamenting that if abortion had been illegal,

43:02

that would have resulted to more people who

43:05

could be working and feeling some of

43:07

those positions that we have vacancy.

43:10

And he's not the only one to say these

43:13

things out loud. Seapack Republican

43:15

leader also made a point to use the same

43:17

rhetoric. He said, if you say there's

43:20

a population problem in the country, but you're killing

43:22

millions of your own people through legalize the abortion

43:24

every year, if that were to produce

43:27

some of that problem is solved. A Schlap said,

43:29

you have millions of people who can take many

43:31

of these jobs. How come no one brings that

43:34

up. If you're worried about this quote unquote

43:36

replacement, why don't we start there, start

43:39

with allowing our own people to live. And

43:41

again he's not the only one. The Ohio

43:44

representative says something similar as well.

43:47

This narrative has been around for

43:49

a very long time. As in fact, it's actually been around

43:51

also targeting the Jewish community as

43:53

well. But this has been a constant

43:56

rhetoric. And if you want to talk about

43:59

our episod so is when it comes to tradwives,

44:01

our episodes, when it comes to the Red

44:04

Pill, our episodes, when it comes to religious trauma.

44:06

They're all linked in this same conversation

44:09

with this white supremacist rhetoric that

44:13

we have to bring more white people

44:15

in to bring in power, that they've lost power, so therefore

44:17

they need to have babies, and that abortion ban

44:20

is the key.

44:22

Unfortunately, these tactics have worked enough

44:24

to sway what is happening within the

44:26

US, but politics alone is not what is

44:29

controlling this narrative. So are the corporations.

44:31

The economic threat of a population's decline

44:34

has become clear to many experts

44:36

around the world, but not

44:38

all corporations have come to this

44:41

same understanding at this point. Like

44:43

we said, Trip dot Com

44:45

and Japan has kind of figured

44:47

it out. They're like, Okay, we need to help with this. There's

44:49

other companies that have been adding to that.

44:52

We know some of the companies here in

44:54

the US, and usually the smaller companies

44:56

that'll been like, we'll give you a longer, maternitically

44:59

better MATERI we have free childcare

45:01

here. But not everybody Amazon Prime

45:04

example, could care less.

45:06

It was an accidental fun I.

45:11

Didn't even know. A lot of the corporations

45:13

are seeking to strip even more rights

45:16

from their employees, many encouraging

45:18

discrimination for those who become pregnant,

45:22

and in fact, recently federal courts

45:24

ruled that the Quote Pregnancy Workfairness

45:27

Act was unenforceable against

45:30

the state government and it's in its agency

45:32

which This act protects accommodations

45:35

for pregnant employees in the workplace

45:37

and allows workers to sue employers

45:40

for failing to do so. It prohibited

45:42

employers from denying employment opportunities

45:45

or forcing pregnant workers to go on leave

45:47

if alternative accommodations were possible.

45:50

And this is from the Texas Tribune dot org,

45:52

which is where all of this was coming

45:55

out from. So that is significant

45:57

to know that that was on a federal

45:59

appeal. And it's very scary

46:01

because not only are

46:03

we being told you have to be pregnant if

46:06

you were to conceive, if

46:08

you were to get pregnant,

46:10

do you have to remain pregnant and go and

46:13

give birth, but that you

46:15

have no rights and they're not going to

46:17

help you. We've talked there are several

46:19

articles that we talked about within the great

46:22

Replacement theory, and these senators

46:24

who literally kept saying, oh, social Security will

46:27

help, which we know is dwind linked

46:29

very quickly and it is pretty much non existent

46:31

for any of us who want to retire at this point. I

46:33

believe the boomers are the last to be able to really

46:36

get anything from

46:38

the Social Security Administration. There's

46:41

so much that we have to look

46:43

at when we talk about this, because there it goes

46:46

hand in hand when we talk

46:48

about the declining of birth birth rates, and

46:50

as we're again we're looking at other countries.

46:54

We're looking at European countries who have a little

46:56

better incentives and that kind

46:58

of are willing to pay

47:00

a lot more and it's costly,

47:03

as men will say, to make

47:05

it better. There's

47:07

many who won't do that here in the US,

47:09

and in fact, again they're doing the opposite by

47:12

kind of leaning towards China's policies,

47:14

which is really funny and ironic right

47:17

now to me, with trying

47:20

to force a population

47:22

boom, and it's working, and it's

47:24

working, and that's what's scary. But again

47:27

this seems to be have

47:29

your cake and eat it to situation for

47:32

both the politicians and corporations. And

47:34

I will say some activists in the US

47:36

have talked about similar tactics to those

47:38

in other countries. I know there's like the sex strike.

47:40

During one point that was

47:43

in talks talking about not

47:45

having children, talking about not

47:47

getting married, talking about remaining single,

47:49

which you know, I get it. But with

47:51

what is happening, and

47:54

as rights continue to be stripped, it will

47:56

be likely that the decline will only continue

48:00

because people are fed up.

48:04

Yeah. I have at least

48:06

two friends who have

48:08

pretty much said the

48:11

shop is closed, like

48:13

they're just and it breaks my heart

48:15

because like, if you want to have sex, if you want to have kids.

48:17

It shouldn't be, but

48:20

they've been like, as long as this what is

48:22

this is the situation, I'm not gonna do it, which

48:25

feels very upset.

48:28

It's very upsetting, but it also feels kind

48:30

of funny because I don't think that's what they

48:32

wanted the outcome to right

48:35

of these things, but that's what I've heard from

48:37

multiple people. It's like, Okay, right, cool.

48:40

I will be interested to see what happens in the next

48:42

couple of years, because we know that practancy

48:44

is due to rape has increased,

48:48

which is horrifying. But at

48:50

the same time, I don't know if it's just

48:52

me, but I have getting more and more

48:55

disturbing pieces about

48:58

children's deaths, some

49:00

of them like literal. I've just watched

49:02

one, I guess the crime

49:04

thing where a mom was so

49:07

flustered because she could not financially

49:10

provide, she did not trust her

49:13

for the children's

49:15

father to take care of them and so

49:18

gave them the best day and then unfortunately

49:21

murdered them. I guess this is

49:23

a side say, and that's not the only case I've seen.

49:25

As of recently, I've seen more and more.

49:28

I feel like this may honestly

49:30

be a thing that we

49:33

see because women are

49:35

not seen. Again, we've talked about the fact that

49:37

the abortion band is only going to kill women, but

49:39

I don't think people can estimate

49:42

the route of desperation that

49:45

many people will have from these

49:48

situations. Again, same thing with

49:52

forced labor, force

49:55

birth for those who have been molested

49:57

and raped. Similar similar

50:00

to that conversation of the desperation that you're not going to

50:02

understand. I'm horrified, aby what's

50:04

happening. But I don't think any

50:06

of these tactics are going to push to an

50:09

increase in birth the

50:11

way they think it will now.

50:13

I don't think so either. There's so much, like really

50:17

fundamental systemic things that have

50:20

to change. I believe for

50:22

people to write.

50:23

Again, hello, having

50:26

childcare, having money to feed

50:28

yourself, having money to have a bedroom

50:30

for your child, those

50:33

are all things that are dictating

50:35

whether or not we want to have children.

50:37

Yeah, yeah,

50:40

seems pretty obvious, you

50:43

would.

50:43

Think, But I feel like twenty twenty

50:45

three South Korea really

50:48

like, oh, I guess we should talk to those

50:50

who can give birth what.

50:52

Maybe we should ask them?

50:54

Maybe we should maybe we should ask them? And

50:56

then we have literally gone backwards

50:59

in the US on how to handle it again

51:02

again, the pretenses we're saving

51:04

lives.

51:04

Yeah, yep.

51:08

Well, well we have a lot of episodes about

51:11

this. As you said, Samantha, it

51:13

is related to a lot of other

51:16

issues. This is another very intersectional

51:18

thing.

51:19

But yeah,

51:23

Happy International Women's Day.

51:24

Happy International Women's Day, Samantha.

51:27

Good luck everybody of Gosh.

51:29

I'm glad to spend it with you.

51:31

I'm glad to be with you too, and

51:33

I'm glad.

51:34

For anyone who joined us on this day

51:36

or any other day. If you have any thoughts about

51:39

this, please let us know. You can

51:41

email us at Stuffania mom Stuff at iHeartMedia

51:43

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51:45

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51:47

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51:49

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51:51

book you can get wherever you get your books things.

51:54

As always to our super producer Christina, are executive

51:56

Bruce and Maya, and our contributor Joey, thank

51:58

you and thanks to you for listening. Steffan

52:00

Never Told You his production by iHeart Radio. For more podcasts

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