- New troubles at Al Gore's Current TV
- New Apple iPhone hard to find, but not impossible
- Trapped drunk driver opens another beer as awaits rescue
- Leaders play down austerity split on eve of G20 | Video
- Teen love triangle at center of new "Twilight" | Video
- British PM fears BP's "destruction" | Video
- Henry, Evra make case for defense after "fiasco"
- Miley Cyrus "no underwear" photo is fake, blogger says
- UAL and Continental pilot negotiations hit snag
- More American women not having children: report
More American women not having children: report
NEW YORK (Reuters) - More American women are choosing not to have children than three decades ago, according to a new report.
Nearly 20 percent of older women do not have children, compared to 10 percent in the 1970s, the Pew Research Center said.
"In recent decades, social pressure to play traditional roles has lessened in a broad variety of ways and there is more leeway for individual choice. This could play a part in lowering pressure for people to get married and bear children," said D'Vera Cohn, a co-author of the report.
"Women have more options than in the past to build strong careers and to exercise the choice not to have children," she added in an email.
The findings in the report are based on data from the Census Bureau's Current Population Survey.
Cohn said another reason for the increase is that children are seen by some as less important for a successful marriage. A 2007 Pew survey found that 41 percent of adults said that children are very important for a good marriage, down from 65 percent in 1990.
One in five white women ages 40-44 were childless in 2008, compared with 17 percent of black and Hispanic women and 16 percent of Asian women. Between 1994 and 2008, the childlessness rates for black and Hispanic women rose by almost a third, much higher than the 11 percent increase for white women.
Education also seems to be a factor in a woman's choice to be a mother. The more educated women are, the higher the childless rate is.
For women with a high school diploma, the rate is 17 percent, compared to 24 percent of women with a bachelor's degree. But the childlessness rate has decreased for women with advanced degrees from 31 percent in 1994 to 24 percent in 2008.
"Economists will tell you that more educated women have more to gain economically from prioritizing their careers, compared with less educated women," said Cohn.
"The most educated women also tend to marry at older ages and to postpone childbearing until older ages more than less educated women do," Cohn said.
(Reporting by Daniel Lippman; Editing by Patricia Reaney)
blacks and latinos are not included in this birth reduction. they are going zippity do da to get baby support payments from us.
We have 7 billion humans on this planet. The least painful way to control population is to educate women and give them options besides domesticity and child rearing. Any pressure on a family to have kids is ridiculous at this point. We DO NOT need more people; rather, we need far fewer. Great news! I pray that this trend spreads worldwide.
I would like to say I agree that is because women have more choice- but I think may of the women pursuing higher education also have an expectation that they shouldn’t have kids if they care about their careers. People are forced to make an either or choice- or worse, by the time they decide to have children it is too late.
Anti-gay marriage proponent would like you to believe marriage is for procreation, but this report just poked a hole in their balloon. Sex is for procreation, marriage is for financial security.
Testosterone and not economic conditions are to blame. Sadly white men are not half of the man they used to be and some white women prefer to be childless than to mix with another race. Latinos mix with anything
that’s why they are the race of the of the future. Imagine a big noisy latino familia!!!!
It’s insane that we live in a country where a young couple can’t have kids without it being a one-way ticket to poverty. Oh, what freedom. Please. I blame this state of affairs on the decline of the union movement which has coincided with the decline of the middle-class. Kids are expensive and employers aren’t just going to pay you a decent wage out of the goodness of their heart. Unfortunately, they have to be threatened with a potential interruption in their accrual of wealth. This is what gets their attention and this is where the power of unions is useful. I think we’re learning.
Sex = self-aggrandizement (pleasure); procreation = children; marriage = financial (or social) security. Don’t confuse the desire for sex with the social expectations for/from childern or security. Marriage & other rituals are just ways for controlling sex. Until the social restrictions on sex benefit women without prejudice, it all boils down to: men got dicks and want them serviced now.
Choice? Women choose? Excuse me….. this is not a choice for many people. Why are you assuming this? Your value judgment is really gender profiling.
Even the report you cite says “could play a part.” Please change your value-laden prejudicial headline
The world is quickly running out of natural resources, eg oil, drinkable water etc. And in so many ways war has been the answer of those perverted by power and greed to the population problems / natural resource problem. Japan’s entry into WWII is a classic example.
Its about time we do everything reasonably possible to end the population boom. Give every couple 2 “child exemptions” on their income tax, even if they have no children. And then take back these exemptions and more if they have children or more then 2 children. I’d even suggest that mandatory sterilization of those with two children should be required.
And I’m sure we’ll hear the catholic church squeal about “life”. The church that has yet to EXcommunciate Hitler, who btw encouraged his people to have more children – for the wehrmacht.
Sorry, Pope Ratzi but your goal of a bigger army of blind believers doesn’t fly any more.