{"id":189969,"date":"2018-10-19T15:54:05","date_gmt":"2018-10-19T20:54:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=189969"},"modified":"2018-10-19T15:54:05","modified_gmt":"2018-10-19T20:54:05","slug":"french-president-macron-large-families","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/french-president-macron-large-families\/","title":{"rendered":"French President Macron insults large families… and families fire back"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Emmanuel Macron, president of France, is facing an onslaught of criticism for demeaning women with large families. Macron was speaking at a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation event<\/a> about population control in Africa, where he said many African women would have smaller families if they could choose to do so. \u201cOne of the critical issues of African demography is that this is not chosen fertility,\u201d he claimed, according to The Guardian. “I always say: \u2018Present me the woman who decided, being perfectly educated, to have seven, eight, or nine children,'” he added, continuing:<\/p>\n

Please present me with the young girl who decided to leave school at 10 in order to be married at 12. This is just because a lot of girls were not properly educated, sometimes because these countries decided the rights of these girls were not exactly the same rights as the young man. That is not acceptable.<\/em><\/p>\n

While Macron is correct that forced child marriages are completely unacceptable, he seemed oblivious to the fact that it is insulting to group the idea of large families in with this exploitation of young girls. On social media, people around the world fired back.<\/p>\n

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#PostcardsForMacron<\/a> Nine college degrees so far among the humans. Our cat knows more than the President of France. pic.twitter.com\/jWXm1biqcD<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Dr Welsh (@ATWelshMD) October 18, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n