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LESSON 2

OQ 1 READ the article about the changing size of families in Brazil.
How and why is the size of families changing?

Nowadays, families in Brazil are getting smaller. In the past, Brazilian women often
had seven or eight children. Today, however, most women think that two children are
enough. Ask any Brazilian woman, “Why do you want only two children? Why not four?
Why not have eight like your grandmother did?” The answer is always the same: “It’s too
expensive! It’s too much work!”
What accounts for! this change in Brazilian women’s thinking? Why is this happening?

One reason is improved education for girls in Brazil. More education usually means
that women wait longer to have children and have fewer of them. In Brazil, TV soap
operas (novelas) are also a big influence. No one can deny? the popularity of these
programs. People all over the country watch them every evening. In the average novela,
90 percent of the female characters have just one child or no children at all.
There are signs of this trend all over the country. As one business executive in Rio de
Janeiro points out, “Look at the apartments. They’re designed for a maximum of four
people. Two bedrooms. In the supermarkets, even the labels on frozen foods—always for
four people.” Clearly, many of today’s Brazilian women are not thinking about having
big families anymore. &

1 account for: cause or be the explanation for something

2 deny: to say something is not true

>» Smaller families like this one
reflect the Brazilian birthrate.
In 2013, women had an
average of 1.8 children.

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