Mothers More Profoundly Affected By Childbirth Than Fathers

Interesting review this morn from Kevin DeYoung of Charles Murray's Human Accomplishment: The Pursuit of Excellence in the Arts and Sciences, 800 B.C. to 1950. Though the whole thing is worth reading (Young talks about Murray's discovery that Christianity has had quite a lot to do with societies greatest accomplishments), one quote from the book stood out to me:

Exceptions exist, but, as a rule, the experience of pregnancy and birth appears to be a more profoundly life-altering experience for women than becoming a father is for men. So closely is giving birth linked to the fundamental human goal of giving meaning to one’s life that is had been argued that, ultimately, it is not so much that motherhood keeps women from doing great things outside the home as it is men’s inability to give birth that forces them to look for substitutes.