A message to Pope Francis: Choosing pets over children does not make women ‘selfish’

It was refreshing to see an almost universal response to a man telling women what to do with their bodies, writes Harriet Hall

The Pope’s comments came over as not only misguided but also deeply insensitive (AP)

Want a guaranteed way to enrage millennial women? Criticise them for not having children. Then, if you really want to be at the receiving end of some serious ire, criticise them for having pets. For we are the generation of the pet-obsessed – and we are absolutely not ashamed to say it.

We’re a generation that has dealt with mounting student debt, recessions, Brexit and the pandemic and still, somehow, manage to get told that the reason we aren’t in the money is down to our own life choices. Too much avocado on toast was one that dragged on for a while, too many chai tea lattes was another. We began to wonder if Boomers would rather see us just stop eating.

Now, we’ve been called selfish by none other than the Pope for not having children – as we battle debt, try to get on the housing ladder and hope to make progress in our careers.