OPEN FORUM : MEETING EUROPE'S DEMOGRAPHIC CHALLENGE: WHAT POLITICAL STAKES?

The Second European Demography Forum (Brussels, 24-25 November 2008) explored the challenges ahead for the European Union as a result of the ageing of its population. It focused in large measure on boosting the fertility rate, which is well below the replacement level for the Union as a whole (1.5 children per woman, compared with +/- 2.1 in 2006). Against this backdrop, the question in everyone's minds was: What should be done to encourage women to have more children?

This question is of crucial importance. Women's future in the public sphere will depend on how it is answered. So for women, the essential question becomes: How can we keep the drive to raise the birth rate from being transformed into social pressure for women to be relegated to the family sphere alone? Such a development would call into question their achievements...