Sarah Harte: Motherhood is not the default anymore — and the reasons why are eye-opening

From housing to childcare, cost and cultural shifts are reshaping how Irish women think about motherhood and family

I would wager that while the financial burden of childcare falls on a couple, the majority of working fathers do not obsess over childcare in the same way that working mothers do, and that hasn’t changed because, generally, the disproportionate burden of childcare falls on mothers. File picture: iStock

The question of why attitudes to procreation and family size have radically altered is both fascinating and complicated. 

The global fertility rate is, on average, less than half what it was in the 1960s. The fertility crisis has implications for individuals and societies, and Ireland is no different.