Thank you, Nesrine Malik, for your article (The right’s obsession with childless women isn’t just about ideology: it’s essential to the capitalist machine, 2 September). I have two points to add. First, some gentle sensitivity from people would help women to come to terms with their infertility. It is often not a choice. Blanket criticism of all women who don’t have the benefit of children is hurtful and harmful. Second, why do men not get the same level of intolerance if they choose not to procreate? Or, indeed, are themselves infertile?
Catherine Colvin
Watton, Norfolk
• Nesrine Malik makes many good points, of course, but she oversimplifies by stating that “a woman who does not bear children … is less likely to extend her caregiving to elderly relatives”. Much depends on the nature of individuals’ work and the geographic spread of a family, but sometimes the childless/free are seen as, and may genuinely be, more easily available. As the childless one of three adult siblings, I took the greater share of care commitments for our elderly mother in her later years.
