“Why are women choosing to have fewer children?”
This seems to be the question on everyone’s lips at the moment – not a day goes by when I don’t see a related story in the media.
Globally, reproductive rates are plummeting, and world leaders are wringing their hands and, in some cases, crying on our tv screens (yes, Kim Jong Un, I’m looking at you), as they beg and plead with women to pop out a few more mini-me’s in the name of civic duty.
But, as anyone reading here will surely know, it’s not always as easy as that, so when this question popped up on my newsfeed recently I was unable to just scroll on by. I had to respond. So this is what I wrote:
To my amazement, amusement and delight, the BBC got in touch, saying they were intrigued by my comment, and would like to interview me for their Pick of the World podcast on the topic of childlessness in today’s society, and about the work I do at The Non-Mum Network.
82% of women have children at some point in their lives, although globally the average age for women to have their first child has increased from 22 in the ‘60s to 28 today, so it was great to be given this global platform to talk about my experience as part of the 18% of non-mums and my reasons for creating The Non-Mum Network (especially on Mother’s Day weekend when non-mums generally feel at their most invisible).
Thank you to the team @bbcworldservice for the opportunity 🙏🏻.
Here’s the link if you fancy a listen (from around 3 mins in): Click to listen
