The right’s obsession with childless women isn’t just about ideology: it’s essential to the capitalist machine | Nesrine Malik

JD Vance's comments on Kamala Harris reflect a stubborn debate in supposedly progressive societies

A woman without biological children is running for high political office, and so naturally that quality will at some point be used against her. Kamala Harris has, in the short period since she emerged as the Democratic candidate for US president, been scrutinised over her lack of children. The conservative lawyer Will Chamberlain posted on X that Harris shouldn't be president" - apparently, she doesn't have skin in the game". The Republican vice-presidential candidate, JD Vance, called Harris and other Democrats a bunch of childless cat ladies miserable at their own lives".

It's a particularly virulent tendency in the US, with a rightwing movement that is fixated on women's reproduction. But who can forget (and if you have, I am happy to remind you of a low point that still sticks in my craw) Andrea Leadsom, during the 2016 Conservative party leadership election, saying that Theresa May might have nieces and nephews, but I have children who are going to have children ... who will be a part of what happens next". Genuinely," she added, as if the message were not clear enough, I feel that being a mum means you have a real stake in the future of our country, a tangible stake."