Causes of Low Birth Rates

Causes of Low possess RatesChildless or Childfree?Actress Katherine Hepburn said, If motherhood doesnt interest you then(prenominal) wear upont do it She didnt, along with opera singer Maria Callas, Queen Elizabeth I, and Oscar winning actress Helen Mirren , lately portraying Queen Elizabeth II.Melissa Dear, of the Family Planning Association, was recently quoted as saying that the falling birth rate was social occasionly a reflection of the failure to provide women with adequate support. That may be so, alone perhaps it is simpler than that. Perhaps more women emergency to encounter fun rather than have a baby. Not that babies cant be fun some of the time, but really, what would you choose worrying about ear infections, and wondering how to replace the front tyres on the car when you need to buy a miniature pair of winter boots which cost more than the ones you saw in your own size at Clarkes or wondering about what to wear to your dinner party and where to go on holiday thi s year?In the past women reaching their thirties with no sign of a child would automatically be at the receiving end of thick streams of sympathy for their plight. After all, dont all women have a deep maternal drive, this instinct, this burning desire to procreate? To experience for the best part of a year, haemorrhoids, backache and the raging hormones of pregnancy followed by the undeniably painful effort required to pass an infant the size of a melon through an first step better suited to something four inches in diameter. Then at that places the post pregnancy weight gain, possible occasional urine incontinence that fashion avoiding sneezing or coughing in public, and in private, your love life goes down the pan.Population forecasts suggest that of those women who are of childbearing suppurate now, one in five may never have children. Some proportion of that will be due to infertility, but there will also be those women who clear the choice not to have children. Some peopl e might think this is an abnormal decision based on an immature worldview. There will palliate be the knowing nods and, Youll change your mind later You are not truly a woman until you have given birth to a child.Dr C Hakim, senior research fellow at the LSE said that researchers had been unable to account for the growing number of childfree women, finding no parallel with infertility statistics. Her research showed that there are rising numbers of women choosing not to have children. The unfruitful woman is not necessarily bewailing her fate.Dr Hakim points out that around 10% of women reach the age of 45 with no children. She says The whole idea of the childfree lifestyle is inauguration to be recognised by the media. Private feelings are being legitimised and people are beginning to feel that they are not being deviant in some way.That deviant behaviour was addressed in a Radio 4 large females Hour Phone-In, with women discussing problems in the workplace as childfree employ ees. You might think that its the mothers that have all the problems, considering they are the ones who have to work flexi hours, coming in late after the school run and having to rush off at the end of the school day. They are tied to school holidays, and are at the pardon of childminders in term time. However, the childfree women phoning in were generally quite resentful of the fact that they could not take advantage of later mornings as they had to cover the time the mums were not there.Victoria, a nurse, said, I have covered for maternity leave, Christmas and all the other times that working mothers assumed was their right to be at home. I dont get any tax relief or benefits for not having children, and I would like a little recognition now and then.20% of the adult female population in Britain are childfree, and Sarah from Leatherhead felt that she was treated as a less useful citizen, despite holding down a demanding transmission line because she had no children. She said sh e was made to feel inferior and less important than the women with children, despite the fact that she often worked longer hours and seldom took time off.Why would childfree women would want to go on holiday in the summer with all those child-filled families? Surely the whole point is not to be around children? Apparently not. Childfree women do not necessarily dislike children it is simply parenthood they are rejecting, and being a parent certainly is linked with disrupted lives and financial insecurity.Those women who do decide to have children are having them later. In 2005 the average age at which women had their first child was 27.3 years, with the highest rate of fertility being in their early 30s. Despite the rise in teenage pregnancies which alters the average, bringing it down, this is still a rise of almost 4 years since the 1970s. Clearly women are choosing to stay childfree for longer, concentrating on careers or travel, or alone organising their lives before giving up their independence.Even then, its not all plain sailing Julia Roberts, 39, actress and mother of 2-year-old twins reportedly said I didnt realise that I would get no sleep at all. I am so sleep deprived I cant so far stand, I have to sit down all the time.Could it be that some women who have children are ever so slightly jealous of their carefree childfree sisters?BibliographyDear, Melissa. (2002) Birth rate at all time lowhttp//news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2570503.stm accessed 19 April 2007Hakim, Dr C (2004) Family-friendly policies are unlikely to influence the voluntary childlesshttp//www.lse.ac.uk/collections/pressAndInformationOffice/newsAndEvents/archives/2004/Family_FriendlyPR.htm accessed 19 April 2007Hepburn, Katherine.http//cheerfullychildless.com/CheeryQuotations.htm accessed 19 April 2007Murphy, J (Unknown) re Julia Roberts Childcare tips from celebrity mumshttp//www.gomamatoday.com/modernmama/parenting/celebchildcaretips/?MemID=11accessed 19 April 2007National Statistics , (2006)http//www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_population/PopTrends126.pdfaccessed 19 April 2007Swann, C (2001) Famous people without childrenhttp//www.suite101.com/article.cfm/childfree_by_choice/58081accessed 19 April 2007Womans Hour (2005) Childfree Womenhttp//www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/2005_13_wed_01.shtmlaccessed 19 April 2007