The world wants women to have more kids. Apparently, it’s our fault that birth rates are dropping and we’re in danger of letting men die without passing on their DNA – shock, horror, what will we do about this injustice?

On a recent episode of Diary of a CEO, host Stephen Bartlett and Love Islander-turned lifestyle guru Chris Williamson – both childless, mind you – pondered this injustice. “Should society intervene to course-correct that?” mused Bartlett. “Should we put systems in place to make sure that those men meet partners?”

I have a better idea; We have to kick out patriarchy and welcome in matriarchy.

Hold on, I hear you say, wouldn’t it be just as bad exchanging one gender-based societal system for another? Well, no. It wouldn’t. I’ll explain. But first, we need to understand why more women are choosing to say no to child-rearing.

Birth rates in the UK hit a record low of 1.41 in England and Wales in 2025, marking the third year of decline. Deaths are expected to consistently outnumber births by the year 2030. The primary driver of hesitancy is economic pressure. It now costs a couple £260,000 to raise a child to age 18 and £290,000 for a lone parent — the median income in the UK is around £39,000. Many parents must also support their child well beyond their passage into adulthood, thanks to a struggling economy.

A 2025 Ipsos survey of 18- to 50-year-olds found that 44% planned to delay having children or not have them at all. The main reason cited? The astronomical cost. Even as the government expands free nursery hours, it’s not enough to make having a child financially viable for many people. The fantasy of the one-working-parent household is no longer the norm, and parents are being destroyed by exorbitant childcare fees. Naturally, in response, people are increasingly saying no or “maybe later” to parenthood.

But money isn’t the only reason women are turning their backs on parenthood. The opportunity to prioritise a job over family is still relatively new for women, so many of us are choosing to grow our careers rather than grow a baby. We’re also seeing fewer grandparents able to take on childcare responsibilities, which often leaves prospective parents choosing between financial stability and childcare.

Then there’s the state of the world. Climate change is looming over us. War is breaking out across the globe. Political instability has never felt more visceral than it does in an age where we see people murdered by state officials on our news feeds. It’s no wonder people are electing to delay or avoid having children to protect potential offspring from growing up in a broken world.

Now, back to my original point: building a matriarchal system that centres women and children could remedy this. Why? Because patriarchy has created the system we live in now, the one that has led to declining birth rates globally. Patriarchal values conflate perfectly with capitalist values, and both systems prioritise economic growth above all else. Consequently, society requires us to prioritise earning over growing a family.

Patriarchy centres men at the expense of women and children. Everything from our transport systems — which are designed around the working man’s commute instead of caring responsibilities — to our political structures is male-centric. The knock-on effect is a culture that cannot afford to prioritise child-rearing because community living died when we allowed patriarchal values to become the dominant force. Under patriarchy, swathes of mothers raise their children in total isolation and rush back to work to put food on the table because maternity leave isn’t enough to sustain any family.

Let’s be clear, no woman should be pushed into having children. Women finally have a choice in motherhood, not the obligation, and many of us are choosing a childfree life, and that’s okay.

However, a matriarchal system could be the key to reversing the destruction patriarchy has wrought. Countless people want children but are delaying due to economic and societal pressures, which leaves them more likely to face issues of infertility. Transforming our society into a matriarchy would take a lot of time and goodwill we don’t have, but the positive impacts would be expansive.

I won’t get sidetracked by discussing all the societal benefits matriarchy could bring; instead, let’s focus on child-rearing. A matriarchy centres on mothers and their children because children are our future, and mothers do the vast majority of childcare. It prioritises community-based child-rearing to ensure both children and their parents receive the support they need to flourish.

Matriarchy would decentre economic growth as the only goal and refocus on societal and communal development. A strong community results in healthier children and parents, making parenthood a hell of a lot more appealing than the isolating experience so many mothers describe today.

It could be too much to ask from a world that seems increasingly divided over how children should be in public and how much parents should control them, but it shouldn’t be. I don’t want children, never have and doubt I ever will. In fact, I generally find them incredibly annoying — sorry, cuties, but to me, all children seem innately gifted with the powers of irritation. Yet, no matter how many times a child screams in my face or rubs something sticky on me, I firmly believe they should be the centre of our society.

Every child is a building block for the future. The better we take care of them and their parents, the more we all profit. I want to live in a matriarchy that treasures children, empowers mothers to raise their children however they want, and surrounds them with a community that supports them. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could create that for prospective mothers? A total trust that their country will empower them to be the best mum they can be, with as many resources as we can throw at them.

That is the answer to declining birth rates. Not blaming women or pushing them to give up their hard-earned careers or revert to archaic “traditional values”, but uplifting them through matriarchal values that centre on what matters most: children and those who care for them. So, which do you want, a patriarchal system that berates women for opting out of motherhood because it’s unattainable, or a matriarchy that empowers women to safely choose motherhood?