6 - Voluntary childlessness: trends and implications

Summary

Introduction

In this chapter we look at voluntary childlessness in Britain and compare it with that in other Western countries. At first sight the topic of choosing to remain childless appears misplaced in a volume primarily concerned with infertility, yet the choice of childlessness has increasingly become a focus of research and policy interest. The low fertility regimes of the developed world have become entrenched, while concerns are periodically expressed about the relatively small number of children being born in current generations. As the average age at motherhood has increased in many Western societies, the issue of distinguishing between those who postpone parenthood and those who renounce it altogether has become of key interest. The later ages at childbirth make this distinction all the more difficult to achieve while there are still childbearing years left in any given birth cohort of women. Of course, having fewer children and/or having them later in life are not in themselves the same as deciding against having children at all. Furthermore, in a climate where postponing parenthood is more common, fertility problems may increase. This problem is dealt with more fully in Chapter 1, by Fishel, Dowell and Thornton.

If, as is the case in Britain, increasing proportions of women of reproductive age are remaining childless, and a majority delay parenthood, it is important to examine the extent to which these trends reflect a greater desire amongst adults to live without children.