Fertile expectations : the politics of involuntary childlessness in twentieth-century France / Margaret Cook Andersen.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Andersen, Margaret Cook, 1978- author.

Series:

Studies in modern French and Francophone history

Studies in modern French and francophone history

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Childlessness--Political aspects--France--History--20th century.

Childlessness.

Fertility, Human--Political aspects--France--History--20th century.

Fertility, Human.

Physical Description:

1 online resource.

Place of Publication:

Manchester : Manchester University Press, 2025.

Summary:

"An engaging history of motherhood, demography, and infertility in twentieth-century France, this book explores fraught political and cultural meanings attached to the notion of an “ideal” family size. When statistics revealed a sustained drop in France’s birthrate, pronatalist activists pushed for financial benefits, propaganda, and punitive measures to counter declining fertility. Situating infertility within this history, the author details innovations in fertility medicine, cultural awareness of artificial insemination, and changing laws on child adoption. These practices offered new ways of responding to infertility and formed part of a growing expectation of being able to control one’s fertility and family size. This book presents the political and cultural context for understanding why private questions about when to start a family, how many children to have, and how to cope with involuntary childlessness, evolved and became part of state demographic policies."-- From JSTOR.

Contents:

Influencing population trends: motherhood and demographic thinking

Infertility in a pronatalist age: medical research and advice in the interwar period

Recovering births for France: infertility as a pronatalist issue

Adoption law reform: building families and promoting population growth

Gender, nation, and the post-war family: artificial insemination in question

Population growth with family planning?

Demographic policy in the baby-boom era.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Online resource; title from PDF title page (JSTOR, viewed April 21, 2026).

Other Format:

Print version: Andersen, Margaret Cook. Fertile expectations.

ISBN:

9781526177377

1526177374

9781526177353

1526177358

OCLC:

1517976144

Publisher Number:

CIPO000212174

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license