It is becoming apparent that women are changing the world. Individually and collectively, in ways quiet and loud, choices made by women over the past six decades are changing the institutions of human life. The impact of these decisions is being felt now and will become clearer in generations to come.
The issues are complex, with no single causative factor. Yet central to these changes is the role of volition – human agency. Women everywhere have made and are making their own decisions about what they want from life. In so doing, they are leading humanity into the future.
The evidence is unmistakable. Two examples will illustrate how the choices of women across the globe are fundamentally changing the course of life on earth.
One is the experience of organized religion. In the past 60 years we have seen a significant decline in church attendance and participation.
The other place where women’s decisions are altering the future is birthrates, which have fallen in every country since 1965. The result of decreased fertility is already an issue in some countries and will be more so in years to come. Elon Musk, JD Vance, Sean Duffy and others support more children and larger families, but they are late to the party. It would take decades to affect population dynamics that have been unfolding for more than two generations.
What has been the role of women in these movements? Of the decline of the church, British scholar and Anglican priest Alan Billings writes that:
“By the 21st century it was commonplace to speak of the death of Christian Britain. Traditional forms of Christianity were in serious decline. … People were not so much hostile as indifferent; they walked away from organized religion. … One of the most serious defections from the 1960s onward was that of younger women. This generation felt liberated by the sexual revolution: they were able to control their own fertility, to decide when or whether to have a family, to have an education and a career. But the issues these emancipated women wanted to talk about – artificial contraception, abortion, divorce, balancing career and family life, sexuality – were all matters that the predominantly male church leaders were only prepared to pronounce on, not debate. Women left the Church in large numbers, taking with them their husbands and children. … Eventually most of the churches had shifted their position on some or all of these issues; but by then, damage had been done.”
While this is written from the perspective of the U.K., in my experience the same phenomenon applies to the American church. A component of the decline of organized religion can be attributed to decisions made by women, who grew weary of the inflexibility they encountered in their traditional places of spiritual expression. In the absence of meaningful dialogue on issues they cared about, they voted with their feet. Not coincidentally, Billings’ essay constitutes a chapter in “A Handbook of Chaplaincy Studies.” Many of the people who left the church now turn to chaplains for spiritual support, and many of my chaplain colleagues are women.
The issue of fertility rates has a more wide-ranging impact. Simply stated, many women around the globe do not want to have more children. One immediate effect is the lament of people who will never have grandchildren (“Longing for Grandchildren when Your Child Doesn’t Want Kids,” New York Times, Nov. 11, 2024). A handwritten note in a Christmas card included the observation that the writer has no grandchildren, and “the wife of my brother’s only son will not have children. So, our line is going away.”
In addition to the personal experience of the end of a family line, the decision of women over the past 60 years to limit the number of children will be societal, affecting economics, government, healthcare and national security. It is forecast to be felt in the U.S. by the end of this century, and into the future. A population decline six decades in the making is not easily turned around. Nicholas Eberstadt writes in Foreign Affairs:
“Although few yet see it coming, humans are about to enter a new era of history. Call it the “age of depopulation.” For the first time since the Black Death in the 1300s, the planetary population will decline. But whereas the last implosion was caused by a deadly disease borne by fleas, the coming one will be entirely due to choices made by people. …
“Global fertility has plunged since the population explosion in the 1960s. For over two generations, the world’s average childbearing levels have headed relentlessly downward, as one country after another joined in the decline. According to the UN Population Division, the total fertility rate for the planet was only half as high in 2015 as it was in 1965. By the UNPD’s reckoning, every country saw birth rates drop over that period. … During the postwar period, a veritable library of research has been published on factors that might explain the decline in fertility that picked up pace in the twentieth century. … Eventually, in 1994, the economist Lant Pritchett discovered the most powerful national fertility factor ever detected. That decisive factor turned out to be simple: what women want. …
“This finding underscored the central role of volition – of human agency – in fertility patterns.”
The point here is not to credit or blame women for big societal trends. Rather, it is to make the observation that, as Billings notes, dialogue is preferable to pronouncements. All voices need to be heard. We are all in this together.
At the same time, the evidence is clear. Whatever we think about it, and whatever we might want to do about it, the fact remains: Women are leading the world into the future by exercising their human agency to decide. Men and women alike will have to accept, adapt to and work together to support one another in that reality.
Russell Myers recently retired after 31 years as a chaplain at Allina Health, serving United Hospital and Allina Health EMS. He is a Lutheran pastor and the author of “Because We Care: A Handbook for Chaplaincy in Emergency Medical Services.”
