The decision to be a mother must be very thoughtful and taken from responsibility. Until some time ago, women postponed motherhood until they found their ideal partner, but now more and more are venturing into the experience of being single mothers. However, we continue to postpone the arrival of our first child for professional reasons and, lately, what is holding us back the most is the painful economic situation we are experiencing.
Reasons to delay motherhood
- One of the companies that knows the most about pregnancies is Clearblue, which has produced a study on the current situation of couples who want to be parents. Taking advantage of the study, we have reflected on the reasons that lead couples to increasingly delay the decision to increase the family and also on the different roles that women and men play with respect to their children.
- It seems that the current economic situation and this endless crisis is not the ideal scenario to bring a child into the world, so couples are delaying their decision. This is added to the increasingly advanced age at which women feel ready to be mothers, which usually occurs when they already have a stable partner and are consolidated in their professional careers. Something that is still a risk, because at an older age, lower fertility and more complications in pregnancy.
- But we cannot ignore that society has changed and that few women can afford to have a child at that idyllic age for fertility such as 25 years. With your degree just finished, at the beginning of your working life, beginning to enjoy traveling and in the process of deciding who your ideal man is, it is necessary to wait a few more years to start a family.
Childcare
- Years ago, many women did not even have the possibility to decide when to have children, or how many, let alone whether they wanted to have them or not. Today, women are in control of their life cycles and with the variety of contraceptive methods available, the decision of how and when to become a mother is in their own hands. However, there are things that have not changed much.
- Although current couples make the decision to be parents by mutual agreement, the weight of that decision is always on the side of the woman. Because the responsibility for the care and education of children is still not shared equally. The reductions in working hours are requested by the mothers, the absence from work when the child is sick is made by the mothers, the costumes for school performances are made by the mothers…
- As much as men insist on affirming that they take care of their children 50%, the truth is that it is women who make the most professional and personal sacrifices when they become mothers. Something that seems to be changing with the increase in unemployment, destining many men to play the role of housewives. But the truth is that in this equality there is still much to do.