19 Reasons More Women Are Choosing a Child-Free Life
An increasing number of women are opting not to have children, and their reasons are diverse. From concerns about the future of the world to simply not feeling the desire, being child-free by choice is becoming more common.
Here are some of the reasons behind this choice.
1: Career
Many women have put a lot of passion, time, and effort into pursuing a career. Some may view having a child as hindering their advancement. After all, a study found that being a mom is like having 2.5 full-time jobs.
2: State of the World
Some women feel the world isn’t very safe. Severe weather incidents, rising rates of crime, and political instability can make it seem like birthing the next generation is a bad decision. That said, some might argue that certain fear factors are more part of common belief than fact. According to the Department of Criminology at the University of Pennsylvania, violent crime and homicide rates in the US were on a near-constant downward trend between 1990 and 2020.
3: Expense
Children are expensive. One study showed the cost of raising a child increased by 20% from 2016 to 2020, landing at a whopping $237,482 per child.
4: Environment
More people on the planet leads to more pollution and waste. Some women feel it’s more environmentally responsible not to have children.
5: Health Concerns
Health reasons are why some women choose not to have children. Certain women can’t conceive without medical interventions, and others have hereditary issues that they worry about passing down. Children born to a couple who both carry the gene variant for a recessive condition have a 25% chance of being affected by it.
6: Other Caretaking Responsibilities
There are 37.1 million unpaid caretakers of elderly adults in the US, and the majority of them are women. Many of these women feel taking care of a child on top of their current caretaking responsibilities would be unrealistic.
7: Lack of a Partner
While some women choose to pursue motherhood regardless of their relationship status, many only want to have children within the confines of a committed relationship. For these women, the lack of a suitable partner means they choose not to conceive.
8: Lifestyle
Having a baby changes everything, as the saying goes, and many women don’t want their lives upended. For them, the freedom that comes with being childless is more valuable than fulfilling a biological need to reproduce. According to psychologist and professor Dr. Catherine Monk, maternal instinct is mostly a myth; it’s something that’s mostly developed from deep love and spending countless hours thinking about a child.
9: Timing
In some cases, women choose not to have children because the timing is off. Maybe they would have had a child if life had worked out differently.
10: Family History
Women who deal with addicted parents or a history of abuse may choose not to have children in hopes of discontinuing a traumatic cycle. Almost half of American children are exposed to adverse childhood experiences, including but not limited to abuse, neglect, and toxic stress.
11: Their Body
Pregnancy is difficult on even the healthiest of humans, and breastfeeding isn’t exactly a cakewalk. For many women, the idea of giving up their bodies to another life, often for over a year, is enough to make them not want children.
12: Lack of Support
It takes a village to raise a child, as they say, but not everyone has a village. Many women don’t have extended family that can help them with a new baby, and the thought of raising a child alone or with only a partner concerns them.
13: Age
Women are having children later than ever before, but not everyone feels comfortable with a late-in-life baby. Many women in their late thirties and early forties decide not to have children at all. Their body may still be able to, but they have no desire to be an older mother.
14: Other Goals
Some women choose not to have children because it would hinder their other goals. It’s hard to do things like travel the world or build wells in Africa when you have little ones you brought into the world vying for your attention.
15: Mental Health
Women who deal with depression, anxiety, or other mental health challenges may choose not to have children. Mental health issues can make pregnancy more difficult, and children do best with mentally healthy role models.
16: Change of Social Circle
When you have children, you can’t pop out for a spontaneous night on the town, nor can you spend the weekend at a friend’s birthday celebration unless you have a sitter. Having children often leads to a change in your friend group, and some women don’t want that.
17: Can’t Control What Happen
Children are their own beings, and parents only have so much control over them. For many women, the thought of having a child who gets sick or ends up in prison is enough to make them forgo having children.
18: Inequalities
In some areas of the world, having a child might feel unfair. Gender inequalities and racial discrimination that will negatively impact the child as they grow up may make women decide it’s best not to have them at all.
19: They Just Don’t Want To
Sometimes the reason why women choose not to have children is simpler than people make it out to be: They just don’t want to. They’re happy with their lives for many reasons, and they have no desire to have someone they have to take care of for 18+ years.
Fewer Babies
The number of births in the US has been declining by an average of 2% per year since 2014, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data. Though some of the decline is due to a rise in infertility, many women are choosing to be child-free.
Pandemic Baby Bust
Many people predicted a pandemic baby boom due to stay-at-home orders, but the opposite was true. 2020 saw a 4% decline in the birth rate. Spikes in unemployment and public health concerns likely contributed to the decline.
Not All Economic
Income precariousness that can stem from unemployment and fears about the state of the world often lead women to choose not to have children. However, many women say the change in birth rate has less to do with economics and more to do with a change in society’s views.
Less Stigma
Women who are child-free by choice face far less stigma now than they did in decades prior. The choice not to have children is often positive for women, and society generally accepts it.
But Not Without Challenges
Still, women who remain child-free by choice face challenges. Resources needed to remain child-free, like access to safe and affordable birth control, are hard to access in some areas. And those who subvert traditional gender roles can face pushback from those who live by the classic cultural norms.
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