In Hilary Mantel's "Wolf Hall," the author highlights a societal tendency where men often take credit for having sons while blaming women for the births of daughters. This reflects a deep-rooted gender bias in which the value of children is measured by their sex, with sons being seen as more desirable. Such attitudes reveal an imbalance in accountability and recognition within parenting roles.

The quote also touches on the stigma surrounding childless couples, where the blame is often placed on women, specifically attributing the inability to conceive to their fertility. This unfairly ignores the possibility of male infertility, exposing a broader issue of how society assigns blame and judges reproductive outcomes based on gender biases.