Anderson, Marilyn (2007) Fertility futures: implications of national, pronatalist policies for adolescent women in Australia. In: Refereed Proceedings of the International Women’s Conference: education, employment, and everything – the triple layers of a woman’s life. pp. 40-45. From: IWC 2007 International Women’s Conference: education, employment, and everything – the triple layers of a woman’s life, 26-29 September 2007, Toowoomba, QLD, Australia.

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Abstract

The Australian Federal Government has responded to the projected, adverse economic repercussions of an ageing population with pronatalist, family-friendly tax incentives, policy rhetoric, and a lump sum Baby Bonus. Tangentially, amid circulation of birth-dearth predictions, the media is positioning fertility as a precious, personal asset not to be squandered. Women in Australia are being subjected to a synergism of new - or renewed - societal forces to “procreate and cherish” that may have unintended consequences on the most vulnerable: newly-pubescent, adolescent women.