Posted on 05/22/2007 10:36:38 AM PDT by qam1
It is not the desire to further careers but money worries and the search for Mr Right which are holding women back from having children, according to a poll out today.
Many are also having too much fun, although a significant number admit to stressing about their fertility, it found.
The study of 1,800 child-free women, for Grazia magazine, reveals that having children is lowest on the list of life priorities for 45 per cent of 28- to 32-year-olds.
More than half (51 per cent) of those aged 24 to 27 and a third of 28- to 32-year-olds say they cannot afford to get on the "family ladder" because they are not financially stable or do not own their own home.
More than a quarter (28 per cent) of those aged 24 to 32 and a quarter of those aged 33 to 40 say they are having too much fun to think about children.
A further 13 per cent of thirtysomethings say they feel too much like a child themselves to have one yet.
The top reason women in the 33 to 40 age group give for not having children is because a third have not met Mr Right (20 per cent of those aged 28 to 30 and 26 per cent of those aged 41 to 49).
Asked why they haven't had children, just 16 per cent of the women say it is because of their career.
When ranking their life priorities, only 6 per cent put career first while 52 per cent say relationships are most important and 35 per cent say friends and family.
More than eight in 10 (84 per cent) say they will not have children in the wrong relationship just to become a mother.
Three quarters (76 per cent) will never use a sperm donor and 79 per cent will not have a baby with a friend, the poll found.
But most younger women will leave a partner who does not ever want children (56 per cent of 24 to 27-year-olds and 57 per cent of 28 to 32-year-olds).
Nine out of 10 (90 per cent) of the over-40s say they will stick with their man even if children are not on the agenda.
While 35 per cent of the 41 to 49-year-olds questioned were married, 28 per cent still feel too immature to have children.
On fertility, 62 per cent of those aged 24 to 27 admit they stress about it.
One in 10 (11 per cent) of 41 to 49-year-olds have already been told they are infertile but 74 per cent in the age group say they will not be bothered if told they can never have children.
Grazia editor Jane Bruton says: "Everyone assumes that women who don't have children are selfish and career obsessed, but our exclusive survey shows nothing could be further from the truth.
"Getting on the family ladder is simply becoming too expensive. If you don't own your own home or feel financially stable because of excessive debt then you aren't going to feel equipped to have a child.
"On top of this, women are waiting longer to meet the right man to father their children and are simply not prepared to compromise."
Delayed marriage and childbirth is a demographic trend that accompanies industrialization and development. Despite what Planned Parenthood may claim, this trend was driving birthrates down in the West long before widespread availability of contraception.
You can negotiate my business deals any day!!
Australian paper...I wonder if the numbers would be similar elsewhere?
That is optional ......
“On top of this, women are waiting longer to meet the right man to father their children and are simply not prepared to compromise.”
What a gross way to put it. The problem as I see it is that girls are no longer taught that it is important to find a good husband and father, and MARRY HIM to create a stable and loving home for future children. “The right man” could/should mean someone who is kind and responsible, and who knows how to love a woman.
Sadly, that type of man is becoming as rare as the type of woman who has enough sense to look for him...
Don’t let it get you down. Congratulations on motherhood!
Got ya beat! I became a Mom at 35. I married a man with one adorable tow-headed imp of his own, and we then ended up raising his two nephews as well. (The boys were all within a year of one another.)
I owned my own home, had rental properties, and was 2 years from my Army retirement. After we married I worked full time in Corporate America, and I look back and can’t BELIEVE what I accomplished in a “normal” 24 hour day, LOL! (I’m 47 now; they’re all grown and off on their own and all are doing well.)
And I wouldn’t trade a MINUTE of my life before or after the boys came into it. Things worked out as they should have. God put me where I should have been at the right time for us all. :)
I pity the current crop of young women these days. They’re in for a rough ride with blinders on, that’s for sure. Some will rise to the occasion though, I’m sure. ;)
Some couples are childless because unless one can home school and live way out in the boonies, it’s a complete uphill battle trying to fight the Gramscian tide. Even private schools pollute young minds now, let alone the overarching mass (sick) culture. Why raise kids knowing they will become little Communists?
Thank you! (I’m the wife.)
Don’t believe for a second though that I’m not counting every day against fertility expectations. We both have to work full-time in this area just to rent, and there’s no way I’m handing over an infant to day care. Here’s hoping for the housing market crash...
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