French President Emmanuel Macron has landed himself in hot water with “educated” mothers who have chosen to have large families.
The French president’s remarks in late September at the Gates Foundation’s Goalkeepers Summit suggested educated women would never choose to have large families. “One of the critical issues of African demography is that this is not chosen fertility,” he said. “I always say: ‘Present me the lady who decided, being perfectly educated, to have seven, eight or nine children.'”
In response to Macron’s swipe, “perfectly educated” mothers with many children, mostly Catholics within the United States, joined in on a #PostcardsForMacron hashtag, posting photos of their many children and captioning it with their educational bonafides. Husbands and children, too, flooded the Internet with the hashtag, bragging of their successful, educated mothers and wives who chose to have many children.
For example, Catherine R. Pakaluk posted a photo of six of her eight children with the hashtag. Pakaluk has her PhD from Harvard and is a professor of social research and economics at the Catholic University of America.
Human Coalition’s Lauren Enriquez, who’s been published by The New York Times, Live Action, Crisis Magazine and elsewhere, sent a message to Macron, too. “Four kids and counting,” she wrote, noting her Bachelors degree in Classics.
But those responding to Macron were not just from the States. Fierce pro-life advocate and CultureOfLife Africa founder Obianuju Ekeocha re-tweeted African families joining in on the hashtag, adding “Take that, [Macron]!”
Ekeocha also re-tweeted Micaela Darr, a writer and mother of seven. “Stay in your own lane, President [Macron],” he wrote in the tweet. “African women don’t need your neo-colonialism and don’t deserve your disdain. Give them water, food, and education without strings attached if you really care.”
Here are just some of the responses to Macron:
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