Elon Musk’s Hate-On for the Child-Free
I have no desire to devote what little free time I have to the asinine rumblings of a billionaire who isn’t doing anything with his wealth to better humanity (although I’m sure he would disagree with that statement).
However, a comment he made about the child-free was brought to my attention on a recent edition of Laura Allen’s Childfree Me podcast with her guest, Dr. Jay Zigmont. In July 2023, Musk agreed on X (formerly Twitter) that the right to vote should be restricted to only parents. He had previously commented that “the childless have little stake in the future.”
As a lawyer, I have a real problem with anyone suggesting that my right to vote – the only way that I have a say in which political party sets the policies and laws of my country and controls the direction of government – should be taken away from me because I have decided to not have children.
Image Credit: Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Comments like Musk’s make child-free people feel judged for their decision and hesitant to share their child-free status. This is also why communities like Child-Free Women in the Workplace (and many others that have gained prevalence in recent years) are important.
Whether Musk likes it or not, the child-free portion of the community is growing, and stats show it is likely to continue growing. A StatsCan report from February 2023 indicated that one-third of Canadians between 15 and 49 did not intend to have children. I appreciate the younger end of this cohort may change their mind, but that is still a good portion of the population who have embraced being child-free.
I disagree with Musk about the importance of the child-free voice being represented at the ballot box. Societal norms, policies, and legislation are all based on the traditional family unit—two parents (mom and dad) and two plus children. It is necessary for the child-free to vote and become involved in all levels of government for our perspective to become better understood and for decision-makers to realize they can no longer assume that a family has children.
Alysia Christiaen
Creator of CFW² and a child-free woman.
