Men crying for equal rights!

PROFESSIONAL MEN have been making the deliberate decision to delay or forego having children, a worrying trend in light of Jamaica’s greying population.

Though the median age in Jamaica currently stands at 29, former Prime Minister Bruce Golding recently pointed out that by 2050, it could reach 40, and urged the Government to move quickly to have a national conversation on the issue.

However, pointing to the influences of the growing Men Going Their Own Way movement, sexologist Dr Karen Carpenter told The Gleaner that men are making bold moves in looking out for themselves.

“They are almost crying for equal rights in the sense that women had their movement, [but] men had no movement,”

‘There [was] no movement for men that said they could delay family life, delay child rearing, delay responsibility, especially in our context.’

reasoned the sexologist. “There [was] no movement for men that said they could delay family life, delay child rearing, delay responsibility, especially in our context. If it’s not having a child, getting married taking on the usual stuff, they look down on you.”

CULTURAL SPECIALIST Professor Donna Hope believes that young men are delaying fatherhood because they want to live out their young days without the immediate burden of having a family of their own.

“A lot of young men who have traditionally been the breeders of this society are wanting to live the good life. They don’t want [to] be tied down with a whole heap of babies. It is about the changes in access to the good life,” Hope told The Gleaner, which sought her views on the emerging trend of an ageing population in Jamaica.

“Education is a wonderful contraceptive – the best one ever,” said Hope. “People who are educated and have better opportunities don’t want to breed themselves out of existence and tie up their foot with babies, responsibility for babies, sacrifice for children when they are in their 20’s and 30’s.

“The men aren’t running into the baby-making factories. They are walking with their condoms. And they are delaying fatherhood – very deliberately.

“They are also delaying these constrictive relationships that are going to end up with them being parents by the time they are in their late 20’s and lock down in family mode,” said Hope.

Referencing her own circle, Hope disclosed that professional men are sometimes waiting until closer to 40 to consider having a child. She agreed that there are benefits to delaying child rearing and highlighted that it is standard practice in most developed countries.