# Birthrate low? Reject men, embrace welfare!

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/honey-badger-radio-505921/birthrate-low-reject-men-embrace-welfare
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/honey-badger-radio-505921/birthrate-low-reject-men-embrace-welfare.md
Podcast: [Honey Badger Radio](https://stenobird.com/podcast/honey-badger-radio-505921)
Published: 2026-06-20T17:21:38+00:00
Episode link: https://www.spreaker.com/episode/birthrate-low-reject-men-embrace-welfare--72612221
Audio file: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/72612221/birthrate_low_reject_men_embrace_welfare.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/honey-badger-radio-505921/episodes/birthrate-low-reject-men-embrace-welfare
Duration seconds: 7296

## Resource

The cross-national correlation between gender equality and lower fertility is exceptionally strong (r ≈ 0.81). After the 1960s, a unique mating regime spread across parts of the world—with female emancipation, individual mate choice, and effective birth control—followed by a continuing rise in singlehood and declining fertility. Almost all women still want to reproduce, but many struggle to find a good-enough partner. This article argues from an evolutionary perspective that many men’s utility to “free women” has been so diminished that solving the fertility crisis by increasing pair-bonding rates seems unfeasible. A viable means for aiding the survival of low-fertility nations could be to provide women with the economic and social resources necessary for them to conclude that having children alone makes for a better life than remaining childless. Such policies would likely exacerbate male marginalization, but new technologies are on the horizon that could offer men reproductive equality.

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## Transcript

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