The two stories I read for this assignment were Betty Rollin’s Motherhood: Who Needs It? and Bill McKibben’s The Case For Single-Child Families. Both of these stories raise more than one important question. First, why does society put so much pressure on women to have children and assume that raising them is mostly their responsibility? Second, at this point in time should we be thinking of more than just ourselves when we decide to have children? Both of these authors bring their own interesting points of view to the table when addressing these issues. Rollin’s from a woman’s point of view says that just because you are female doesn’t mean you are required to reproduce. If you want to that’s great but if you don’t want to that’s fine as well. Women have more opportunity in the work force and in society to contribute today than ever before and they deserve the chance…show more content… Overpopulating the planet is putting a huge strain on the environment and society puts way too much pressure on individuals no matter what they choose to do. The point that both of these stories fail to bring up though is that should you choose to have six kids or none at all as human beings we all have a debt to society, that debt being leave the planet in better shape then you found it and pass something good on to the next generation. What is passed on may be something as simple as donating time to charity, domestic skills like family recipes, a skilled trade or craft, or maybe just great knowledge of something. If you don’t have kids that’s fine but don’t forget to be a part of something and realize at the same time those who do have kids lead much more hectic lives than you. For those who do have kids you are not better just because, and should respect others opinions to not have them. People who don’t have kids may not have them because of personal medical reasons or just may not want to live a life where others a dependent on
