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Shelley Clark

@shelleydclark.bsky.social

James McGill Professor of Sociology, McGill University. A demographer whose research focuses on gender, health, family dynamics, and life course transitions. https://www.mcgill.ca/sociology/contact-us/faculty/clark

69 Posts395 Follower31 Folgt
Shelley Clark@shelleydclark.bsky.social · 3w ago

In-person space is now sold out but it's still possible to register to take part remotely. Over 400 people total!

Shelley Clark@shelleydclark.bsky.social · 3w ago

Public discussion and coverage of fertility decline amplifies misinformation and panic, elevating alarmist claims driven by a pro-natalist ideological movement. This Thursday, come hear the research-based alternative at an international, interdisciplinary conference. www.mcgill.ca/popcentre/ev...

Shelley Clark@shelleydclark.bsky.social · 3w ago

There's still time to register for this week's major international conference at McGill on how to think about declining birth rates without pro-natalist panic or misinformation about a fertility crisis. A few seats are left in person, or take part hybrid/ remotely! www.mcgill.ca/popcentre/ev...

mcgill.ca

Shelley Clark@shelleydclark.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Is there really a fertility "crisis"? Beyond Birth Rates: Advancing a Pro-Alignment Approach to Low Fertility in North America A conference on August 20th, 2026. This event is hybrid and can be attended in person at McGill University (Montreal) or online. www.mcgill.ca/popcentre/ev... 1/

poster: Worried about low and declining birth rates? Is there really a fertility "crisis"? A conference: BEYOND BIRTH RATES: Advancing a pro-alignment approach to low fertility in North America
Philip N Cohen@philipncohen.com · 2mo ago

To the Anemona Hartocollis's credit, this article does not use the term "fertility crisis," which is good because there is. not. one. -- contrary to the clickbait bosses at NYT. When you say "fertility crisis," and then liberals can't "solve" it, you are left negotiating over the Nazi solutions.

A Conservative Role Model for Ending the Fertility Crisis Emma Waters, pregnant with her third child, is crafting policy to encourage early parenthood. Some think she is pushing an ideology that does not meet reality.
Elizabeth Wrigley-Field@wrigleyfield.bsky.social · 3mo ago

This is a small center w/in a larger institute, which means that if you (for example) want to attend the weekly research seminar, you’ll be one of ~40+ people in person (all enjoying a nice free lunch), which i think is really fun. This is also why there’s a critical mass for, like, bike tune-up day

Elizabeth Wrigley-Field@wrigleyfield.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Communications job in the population health world. This is at an institute where I work that has a great culture and strong support for work-life balance. (I‘ll be working a bit with whoever ends up in the role!) Note that relevant work experience can replace educational background qualifications.

hr.myu.umn.edu

Shelley Clark@shelleydclark.bsky.social · 6mo ago

One thing I'd particularly want to highlight, since so many discussions of the future of family life get it wrong. People are very quick to look at *delayed* childbearing, as parents wait until later in adulthood, and think they're seeing a *refusal* of childbearing.

Leech: There’s a growing narrative that declining fertility reflects people “opting out” of parenthood. What does the data actually tell us about whether people don’t want children — versus when they feel able to have them? Clark: What the evidence suggests is that this is much more about when than whether. Over the past 30 years in Canada, the proportion of women who reach the end of their reproductive years without having children has increased only slightly — from about 14% to 17%. That’s not a dramatic change. What has changed significantly is timing. People are waiting longer to have children, and many are having fewer. We won’t fully know whether today’s delays translate into permanent childlessness until younger generations reach later life, but right now the data points much more strongly to postponement rather than rejection.
Samuel Perry@profsamperry.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Worth noting that when people cite that religiosity is associated with greater fertility across nations (with the implication being we should increase religiosity HERE to increase our fertility rates), that link apparently only applies in non-Christian regions. In fact, W. Europe it's the opposite.

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Shelley Clark@shelleydclark.bsky.social · 8mo ago

I discussed changes in Quebec fertility, and variation in fertility across the province, with CityTV. @mcgillumedia.bsky.social @mcgillarts.bsky.social montreal.citynews.ca/2025/12/27/q...

Fewer Quebec women having children, and later in life

A new report from Quebec’s statistics institute shows women across the province are having fewer children and delaying motherhood, with Montreal recording the lowest fertility rate at 1.11 children pe...

montreal.citynews.ca

Shelley Clark@shelleydclark.bsky.social · 9mo ago

newrepublic.com/article/2040... New by UMd demographer @philipncohen.com in TNR, on the pronatalist panic. Some key lines: "giving in to population panic and endorsing a plan to increase birth rates implicitly supports anti-immigration politics and yields ground to racist fearmongering.” 1/

What If Both Sides in the Birth Rate Debate Are Wrong?

The right wants to steer women away from work and toward motherhood. The left wants to provide them with more state support so it’s easier to have children. We should refuse this choice.

newrepublic.com

Matthew M. Brooks@ruraldemography.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Want to know why these encouraging but expected trends occurred? Well you can read the full paper here to find out: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

<em>Journal of Marriage and Family</em> | NCFR Family Science Journal | Wiley Online Library

Objective To examine whether family change in rural America is widening the rural–urban child poverty gap and increasing inequalities between children raised in married parent families and those rai...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Matthew M. Brooks@ruraldemography.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Answer #2: When using the Supplemental Poverty Rate, we find that rural child poverty rates have fallen, particularly post 2017. Broadly speaking, this progress on poverty is unexpected since rural kids are increasingly living in nonmarital families, which normally have high risks of poverty.

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Matthew M. Brooks@ruraldemography.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Answer #1: Rural kids are increasingly NOT living in married parent families. Instead they are increasingly living with cohabiting parents, never married parents, and with no parents (kinship care). This shift away from married families has happened at much faster pace for rural than urban kids.

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