Women With High IQs Have Little Desire For Children, Psychologist Says

COMMENTARY | The higher a woman’s IQ, the less she wants children. Or so says a study from London School of Economics researcher Satoshi Kanazawa. He claimed his research shows that for every 15 extra IQ points, a woman’s desire for children drops by 25 percent.

I can’t speak to Kanazawa’s grasp on science. But I suspect it’s shaky.

His research was being debated this week in UK newspapers The Guardian and the Daily Mail rather than a scientific journal.

And Satoshi Kanazawa himself is the same professional troll who came to fame in 2011 for claiming another of his studies proved black women were less attractive than Asians.

It might come as no surprise to learn that Kanazawa himself is Asian.

So it isn’t immediately obvious then why the British press is paying so much attention to Kanazawa this week.

But I’m willing to look around and agree that as a very rough rule, the smart women I know mostly have one child or no child.

I can’t speak to the UK, but in the United States, the economic costs of having a child are simply too crushing.

Women with children lose income and opportunities. Yet they are hit by the ever-spiraling upward cost of raising children.

Educated women who can do math will take precautions to prevent raising their children in poverty.

Since he is a troll, Kanazawa apparently called the high IQ women losers for not wanting children. The Guardian’s Sadhbh Walshe felt moved to respond to that on Wednesday:

“Anyone who is genuinely concerned with falling birthrates should be supporting policies such as paid maternity leave, subsidized day care, flexible work schedules, affordable health care, and so on that would make it feasible for more women who want babies to have them.”

Well, sure. Who can disagree?

Mothers do get punished economically for having children. Smart women make good observations and adjust their behavior. Less intelligent women don’t.

Some dude in England calling you a loser isn’t going to have any effect on your decision whatsoever. Everybody’s a critic. Somebody will call you a loser no matter what you do. So whatev.

If Satoshi Kanazawa just wants attention, he can carry on. But if he actually wants high IQ women to have children, he can put his money where his mouth is and pay them.

[stressed mother and children are models by Creatista via Shutterstock]