Angry mothers take on Macron over comments

PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron is facing criticism from mothers with big families both at home and abroad for recent comments he made about women and fertility in Africa.

Hundreds of French and American women took offence at a September speech Macron made at the Gates Foundation’s Goalkeepers Summit, when he said a critical issue for African demography is that women and girls don’t have the choice to have children or not because they are uneducated. He said: “I always say: ‘Please present me the lady who decided, being perfectly educated, to have seven, eight, nine children.’ ”

Even though Macron was specifically referring to African women in his speech, many Western women are using the hashtag #postcardsforMacron on social media to criticize him and share photos of their large families.

The hashtag was trending on Twitter in France in recent days, with more than 20,000 posts about the topic on Wednesday and Thursday.

It was not the first time that Macron found himself in hot water over fertility issues. Last year, he prompted controversy when he suggested it’s a problem that African women often have “seven or eight children.”

Macron, who has been outspoken against sexual misconduct since the “MeToo” movement emerged last year, wanted to insist on the idea that parenthood must be a choice.