Image credit: https://jerripedia.org/wiki/Jerripedia
Over and over again, I see this phrase on social media, and variations thereof: “There is no village any more.” What is usually being alluded to is the fact that people are having less children, and they are having less children because parents are unsupported. There is no “village” around them to offer security or assistance.
The world carries on running due to the labour of unpaid volunteers, and by unpaid volunteers, we generally mean women when it comes to childcare (although I am heartened to find that the gender split in recently recorded statistics is not that vast across volunteering in general: https://www.ncvo.org.uk/news-and-insights/news-index/uk-civil-society-almanac-2024/volunteering/what-are-the-demographics-of-volunteers/#by-gender).
How does this relate to the “village” or people not having children? Well historically, we have relied on the unwed spinster sister, or the aunt, or the grandmother to step in, and prior to World War II, only 10% of married women between the ages of 25-44 were in work.
It is not unusual for those of my generation (Millennials) to reach out to their parents in the first instance if help with childcare is needed. But the thing is, these grandparents are working. My own parents only retired very recently, at the mandated government ages, and their eldest niece is 25 years old. My aunts have all worked, and my sisters have worked (and all of the men have worked too).
Arguably since the end of the World War II (when 80% of married women were employed, the figure dropping as they were encouraged to return to the home), but especially since the 1980s, we have seen increasing demands for households to have two parents in full time work. We have seen the end of the era of one worker with a mortgage, supporting a household, and arrived at the state we are in today, 2026: two workers struggling to rent a flat and putting off having children until they feel financially secure (which is a state that may never arrive).
On top of this, we live in an increasingly suspicious society, where “stranger danger” is considered good common sense. Families have become more tribal, and we are less likely to speak to or know our neighbours. (Bizarrely though, people will put up photos and videos of their children online without a second thought. Imagine going down your local high street and handing out photos of your kid, you just wouldn’t do it, right?). The online community can feel safer and more relevant than the physical community.
So we have two massive issues here to address. One: when everyone is working (and let’s not forget, Jersey Deputy Mr Gerald Voisin recommends working two jobs for less than minimum wage), there is no one left to help out. And two: our sense of community has been eroded.
It can be hard to know how to even start to fix these problems. Local political party Reform Jersey has tried to aid families, with free childcare and GP visits, increasing the minimum wage, and extending school meals (among other wins). I think though that until we end the landlord monopoly, we will be trapped in a cycle of slightly raised wages matched by increased private rents, which never allows an ordinary working person to get ahead.
Will anyone attempt to take on the landlords that own 50+ properties each, and are preventing local people from owning a generational home? Although it is estimated to be only a small group of people, that is an obscene amount of housing on a tiny Island of 45 square miles. It can be difficult to bring change to an entrenched system, but I feel like putting a cap on housing ownership, again, in a tiny Island, feels sensible and fair. I won’t hold my breath though!
Parents face a ridiculous amount of derision and scrutiny, and we need to all challenge people in our own lives when they spout hatred against those that are struggling. We hear such gems as “if you can’t feed ’em, don’t breed ’em,” and then see article after article bemoaning the lack of “breeding.”
Parents are not immune from crises.
In my own life, I’ve faced issues that I never could have dreamed of, requiring repeated draining of my bank account. This does not mean that I was unprepared (I had a good job, private pension, etc) it just means that life happens. Is it so hard to offer grace to families that need just a bit of help with uniforms, or school meals, or activity fees?
I think all of us need to have a good hard think about the kind of Island that we want to live in, and will be living in. I don’t want children to go hungry, or not to go to the doctor, or to miss out on playing sports. I don’t want parents to be isolated and struggling. If that means that my taxes (as a child-free person) go to funding services for parents and children, I welcome it.
After all, what is the alternative? We already have ample evidence of how crime and poverty intersect. Shall we end up with a small community of millionaires, living in their gated community, taking children in blacked out cars to and from their high-walled private schools? desperate to avoid any interaction with the great unwashed outside their zones.
We, you and me, create the “village.” It requires work, and it requires caring about where you live, and the people around you. It requires amazing people that give up their time to help with Guides or Scouts, to go in to schools and read, to put on community events. To some extent, we have forgotten that if we want to rely on a “village” we have to also put time and energy in to building and maintaining it. We want all of the benefits, with none of the cost.
So, some final thoughts. Yes we need to keep fighting for a living wage, and for property prices that make sense. We can’t be surprised that people in their 30s are putting off having kids because they can only live in a one bedroom flat.
We need to continue to use and demand community spaces. Libraries, swimming pools, town halls, sports centres, cinemas etc. Places for children, teenagers, adults and families.
And we need to try to care about each other. Find out about what’s going on in your area, and show up. If you can, volunteer a few hours to a charity or other service. Remember that bad times can happen to anyone, and give people grace.
Together, we can make a change.
Articles used in the drafting of this post:
https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/research/olympic-britain/employment/working-miracles
https://www.reformjersey.je/manifesto#record
https://ifs.org.uk/articles/income-and-wealth-inequality-explained-5-charts
https://fullfact.org/economy/fifty-years-income-inequality
https://www.ellisbrooke.co.uk/news/only-one-uk-industry-pays-enough-to-afford-the-average-home.html
SURVIVAL IS INSUFFICIENT 
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