Why the ‘Fertility Campaign’ Failed: Fertility Choices in Italy After the Crisis

• In Event: Italian Politics after a Decade of Economic Recession

Abstract

Italy has the lowest birth rate in Europe. In 2015 less than 500,000 children were born— the lowest number since Italian unification in 1861. In September 2016 the Italian government led by Matteo Renzi responded to the situation with the so-called Fertility Campaign. The aim of the campaign was to warn people of the risks of postponing childbearing, and to encourage them to have children sooner. However, the campaign was withdrawn after only a few days, following accusations of “sexism” and even “fascism” that echoed outside Italy. The Minister of Health Beatrice Lorenzin claimed her intention was to raise awareness on fertility issues in the context of Italian demographic crisis. The campaign’s detractors claimed that the campaign unfairly assigned all the responsibility for the country low fertility and demographic crisis to the individuals, and in particular to women. In this controversy there has not been a larger discussion about the real issues confronting people who consider having children in Italy today, or on the assumptions on which the campaign was based.

The proposed paper aims to fill this gap using the data gathered as part of the ongoing mixed-method project “Future and Family: Italy, Spain and the UK” led by the University of Edinburgh. The paper will provide a picture of how and why Italian women and men in their early thirties make decisions regarding childbearing and parenting 8 years after the 2008 economic crisis. It will tell about young Italians’ hopes and fears about having children, and describe the different circumstances that affect their views and choices. The paper will read individual stories against the background of Italian institutions and policies, and will link national statistics on fertility and population change to original qualitative data collected through in-depth interviews conducted in the North and in the South of Italy.

The paper will develop a better understanding of Italian post-2008 fertility choices in the context of national institutions, geographical variations and local cultures and contribute to a wider discussion on the legitimacy of policy actions related to fertility at a time when population aging represents a major global challenge.

Author

• Adele Lebano, University of Edinburgh