How Many Canadian Women Choose Not to Have Children?
Published January 24, 2010 @ 10:50 in My 2 Cents
I'm expecting the arrival of my second nephew next week. It'll be my brother Steve's first kid. My other brother has a son who was born the exact same day as my second (and probably last) child.
We were all together last night to celebrate my oldest child's birthday, and a great debate erupted. Based on zero facts and figures, I thought the number of women who choose not to have children could be as high as 30%. Everyone thought that number was ridiculously high (although I'm told Ryan started to side with me).
Here are some assumptions I made as I argued my case:
- There's a correlation between education and motherhood - the more education you have, the less likely you are to procreate - Canadian women are becoming more educated - more woman are earning university degrees than ever before
- The less religious you are, the less likely you are to start a family - Canadians are becoming less religious as each year passes
- City folk are less likely to procreate than suburban or country folk
- The higher in the corporate hierarchy you climb, the less likely you are to mother a child - women are assuming upper management positions in companies more than ever before
All of that seemed logical to me, and 30% seemed plausible. This morning I did a little Googling and I found this New York Times article entitled More American women choose not to have children.
American women are waiting longer to have children, and more than ever are choosing not to have children at all, according to a report by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Twenty percent of American women from the ages of 40 to 44 have no children, double the level of 30 years ago, the report says, and women in that age bracket who do have children have fewer than ever - an average of 1.9, compared with the median of 3.1 in 1976.
The article went on to say that Hispanic women in the US were bucking the trend. Considering Canada doesn't have the same Hispanic women populous, and per-capita Canadians are more educated, my 30% might not be that ridiculous.
How many Canadian women choose not to have children? If you're a woman who chose not to have kids, I'd love to hear why you made that decision.
Anonymous
January 24, 2010 / 11:21
I chose not to have children for many reasons, the main one being they disgust me. I don't like it when they touch me or are even near me. (I don't mind so much when they are about 8 and over)Also most North American children are the worst behaved creatures on the planet. My children have 4 legs and tails (horses, sheep, goats, dogs, cats, etc)
Also there are to many people in this world, people should only be allowed 1 child at the most.Also I beleive potental pet owners as well as parents should require some sort of liscence. There are too many unfit parents/owners out there.
By the way I am not a crazy PETA person I hate PETA, I eat meat. I just don't like people much because of how they treat our planet.