Birth subsidies - the way to more kids?

I saw an article online today via the Japan Times, which mentioned Yuriko Koike is looking at a subsidy for epidural childbirths in the latest "boost the birthrate" shenanigan. The article quotes Koike as saying “I’ve heard many people say that they had their first child and never want to experience the same pain they felt again."

Image created by Canva's DreamLab.

I have two children. I gave birth to those children without any epidural, so I'm well aware of the pain level that it involves. Hot tip: it's not the pain that stopped me from having more children, it's the support factor. To be fair, Koike did go on to say that an economy and support system needs to be implemented where people would want to have more than one child, but I think her perspective doesn't dial in to the real issues.

Honestly, thinking that a subsidy for epidurals will encourage people to have more kids is like thinking a band aid is going to fix a broken leg. Childbirth is just one teeny-tiny part of a parenthood journey, and while pain relief is a surface level solution to one issue, it does nothing to address the larger issues that come after a baby is born—the challenges of balancing work and motherhood, the lack of affordable childcare, long waiting lists to even get childcare in certain parts of the country, and the societal pressures that make it difficult for women to thrive both at home and in the workplace.

In some cases though, I think we as women can be our own worst enemies. Some research looked at the idea of gender roles in Japan and the idea that men = work and women = family. 30.3% of men agreed with this sentiment, but (surprisingly, to me) 37.1% of women also held that same belief. 

Got any better ideas for how to boost the birthrate than Koike's epidural "push present"?