Today women are entering the workforce more than our grandmothers, and even more than our mothers. How is this affecting our personal lives?
According to TIME Magazine, a recent study stated that nearly half of women between 15 and 44 are now childless, making it the highest percentage since the U.S. Census Bureau started measuring it in 1976.
As women, we usually have many reasons to back up our decisions. The topic of having children is no exception.
In a personal narrative on Huffington Post, Sezin Koehler listed eight reasons why she wasn’t planning on having children.
Her reasons spanned a wide spectrum, from how much a child costs, to the physical toll pregnancy has on the body, to the fact that there are 153 million orphans in the world. So why doesn’t she just adopt?
“I do not assume that my personal life choices are so fundamental that other people are less human or will live less fulfilled lives because they don't make the same ones,” said Koehler in response to the backlash she and her husband received after announcing their decision to loved ones.
Although some women are opting out of motherhood altogether, it seems that some are just waiting until later in life. TIME Magazine said, “In the group between 30 and 34, 28.9% were childless.”
Marriage statistics also indicate that times have seemed to change. “In 1960, 72% of all adults ages 18 and older were married; today just 51% are,” according to PEW Research Center.
What was your reaction to the recent statistics? Is motherhood a necessity? Let us know in the comments.
Sources:
More Women Aren’t Having Children, Survey Finds. Time.
http://time.com/3774620/more-women-not-having-kids
8 Reasons Why I'm Not Having Children. Huffington Post.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sezin-koehler/8-reasons-why-im-not-having-...
Barely Half of U.S. Adults Are Married – A Record Low. PewResearchCenter.
http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2011/12/14/barely-half-of-u-s-adults-are-...
Reviewed April 10, 2015
by Michele Blacksberg RN
Edited by Jody Smith