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Notes -
I am curious if the strict gender norms you mention for eastern societies are worse for women with children vs. women without (my suspicion is that they are). This would seem to present a real disincentive to having children.
In societies with more equal/flexible gender roles, there is less of a loss to a woman's status and freedom when she has children, which makes it more attractive. Now just imagine if men and women bore equal responsibility for child-bearing!
But even in western societies that bear equal responsibility for children, the total fertility rate tends to be below replacement. Which suggest again that it is not a solution, just something that slows down population decline to acceptable levels. So maybe yeah it is a solution.
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