More Women Than Ever Are Waiting To Have Babies

A recent study has concluded women are waiting until they are 30 to have children.

Shut the front door. This is outrageous. I am gobsmacked. What the hell is wrong with the world?

Can you hear the sarcasm?

The study by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, which cost who knows how much, has found that the average age of Australian women giving birth is 30.1, up from 29 years a decade ago. Yep, women are now waiting one more year to have a child. For some unknown reason this study had popped up everywhere, from social media, news outlets and even on breaking news. Haven’t we already worked this one out? Did we need a study to tell us the reasons for holding back on the baby-having drive?

Why the Delay?

Sure, some women are materialistic bitches. But most delay children because they want the independence that comes with work as well as the nontrivial benefits of professional success: a good salary, career choice for the future, and a stable place in the world. It’s a general trend that as more women get an education and enter the workforce, they marry and start having kids later in life.

To me, 30.1 years of age is young “” if it’s not then shit, I am old.

The decision to have children these days is as much about career as it is about science. We have choices. We can choose not to have children for as long as we believe our bodies can hold out, or we can choose to have children early. We must remember, before the widespread availability of the Pill women had no choice but to have children in their teens and early twenties. But with the introduction of effective contraception, women could trade babies for briefcases and work on their careers rather than start a family.

Beating the biological clock is easier these days too, with technologies such as IVF, egg donation and egg freezing now freeing women from the tyranny of their own biology. Saying that, those who think women who have children in their 30s or even their 40s always need reproductive technologies to conceive are wrong. Fertility is highly individual, and surprisingly little is known about the exact decline of fertility with age. There is no magic age limit for pregnancy that applies to all women.

The Median Age of  Motherhood

So why are we all so shocked by this study which claims more women than ever are waiting to have babies until their 30s? Is it because our grandparents had children in their 20s and it’s considered “the right thing to do”, or is it we have just not socially accepted that women are putting their careers first?

The study also found the number of new mums aged 35 and over is up 22 per cent from previous years. We also must not be shocked about this number, as we have seen just this year the number of celebrity mums welcoming their first child into the world in their 40s and even 50s. Again, we can thank technology for this little miracle, as it is nearly impossible to have a baby at this age by accident. It is safe to say, any parent who is trying to conceive over the age of 40 has most likely gone through some kind of hell to welcome that precious baby into the world””paperwork, blood tests, questionnaires, waiting, mood swings, needles and a whole heap of emotion.

Let’s not be shocked by this study. Instead, let’s embrace it and celebrate women for their achievements. Whether that be career, education or motherhood.

What do you think are the pros and cons of having babies in your 30s?