A new report has determined that there has been a shift in the attitude of educated women towards having children. The number of highly educated women wanting to have kids, rather than choosing to balance between life and work, has increased substantially. The shift has come over a period of twenty years, from when the number of childless women in their 40s was quite high.
The study suggests that just about 22% of working women in their 40s have no children. The data was taken from the Census Bureau Data and was analyzed by Pew Research Center. Details of the report indicated that the women who are driving the stats upwards have an M.D. or PHD.
One of the authors, Gretchen Livingston, stated that: “In the past, it’s been the attitude that a working mom can’t have a good relationship with her child. I think as it’s becoming more acceptable for working women to become moms, and that may be having an influence.”
The report also pointed out the fact that the great recession has resulted in over-fertility rates as well. Livingston also pointed out that, over the years, more women have been going for Post-Graduate degrees and the same has been the case with women in managerial and leadership roles. However, the study gap between women has found to be still responsible for the likelihood of having children and the number of children that she has.
Unfortunately, the report also stated that the number of women having at least a Masters degree and two or more children is up from 51%-60%. The fact that more women are taking leadership roles in businesses suggests that they feel more empowered to tackle the issues and pressure of life-work balance.
Fortunately for the country, the average number of children a woman has is still 2. This raises more questions since these stats are counter-intuitive. One reason for this has been stated as declining fertility rates amongst women in the US.
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