Is it possible to ask childless women why they do not have children?
An unusually large scandal has shaken public life in Estonia. A survey planned in collaboration between a foundation's research institute and Estonia's largest university (University of Tartu) had to be halted after outrage swept through the country due to the questions and background of the questionnaire. In short: The creators of the questionnaire obtained data on childless women from the Estonian population registry and sent questionnaires to tens of thousands of women, inquiring about their sexual orientation, political preferences, and why they do not have children. Before I delve further into the background of the matter, let's pause at this level for a moment. Not least because several critical voices have already found these questions to be problematic. Can a sociologist ask why women do not have children? My short answer: yes, they can. Sociology examines social phenomena, and population reproduction is a social phenomenon. The birth rate in a country has been mea