This year, it was declared that 1 in 5 American women officially have their first child after the age of 35. As more women have entered the workforce and have obtained higher paying positions than ever before, many women, although they plan to have children eventually, consider securing an occupation more important than having a child. Nowadays, more women over 35 who have difficulty conceiving are able to get treatment for this problem. One solution is in vitro fertilization, in which a egg is fertilized outside of the woman, and then placed into her womb.
As a women ages, her eggs often become degraded. After the age of 35, the chances of retardation in the child doubles. In addition to this, other problems having to do with an aging body and reproductive system can also contribute to higher risks for babys born from older women.
Despite the health risks posed by in vitro fertilization and childbirth later in life, more and more women are choosing to have children later in life. While some couples choose to adopt, I find it interesting that so many people would rather risk carrying an unhealthy baby .
I wonder to what extent Gender roles play into this situation. Is it the act of carrying a child and childbirth itself that a woman wants to experience, or is it a desire to pass on one genes?
I think that in many cases, its both. While in vitro fertilization can be very expensive, it is often covered at least partially by health insurance. Adopting, on the other hand, can often be a long and expensive process.
Another option for older mothers who want to have their own child is to choose a surrogate mother. Still, this might have great psychological impacts on both the mother to be and the surrogate, and a mother might fear that the surrogate might somehow want to become overly involved in the childs life.
I think that the act of pregnancy and being pregnant is very important to many women. In many cases, it is important enough that they feel it is well worth the heightened health risk. I think that many women would feel that they are not fulfilling their maternal roles without going through the process of pregnancy and childbirth. What do you think?
6 comments:
I think women are more aware now in how much work and dedication goes into a child. Having the option to have one could make anyone insecure of doing the right thing. It is a matter of choice if you want to have your children early in life or if you want to dedicate your life to a full time career. Doing both is hard and demanding, women are perfectionist and raising kids have become a very competitive job in our culture. Once they have dedicated their lives to a job and realizing that it is not extremely fulfilling they try to search for a husband and quickly have a family but sometimes a lot of this quick fix ups come with a price. However, women had become healthier and are able to carry babies even in their fifties and sixties. Perhaps our bodies are getting stronger!!!
Dorit,
As people live allot longer now than in previous generations many women are having children later in life or adopting. I honestly believe that it is in the genetic makeup of a women to want to mother a child and in the man to want to father that child. Without these natural and strong tendencies no one would want to raise children and we would diminish as people. My sister had two children when she was around 40 and she and the children are healthy and happy. Medicine in all fields including fertilization has made enormous strides. Many couples that wanted children in the past and couldn't now can with several options. I think having children is extremely rewarding but a tremendous responsibility as we all know.
I completely see what you are saying and you have some very good points. I am thinking that maybe with the economy getting worse and worse and how the roles of women in the workplace have grown to be more equal as men, that maybe cost of living has something to do with it. It is hard to pay for everything nowadays, especially to support children. Maybe women are realizing how much money it takes to raise a child and they wait till they are older because they want to be more established and financially ready to care for a child. It always probably has to do with jobs as well. if a woman finds herself in a good paying job with a position she really likes, that it may keep her from taking time off and doing the whole child thing for a little while longer. it is difficult to be torn up between finally being important in the workplace but wanting to give in to your maternal instincts as well. I find just from observation that alot of women want to work for awhile and get some decent time in to be successful in a job, to save up money, and then they want to have children a little later in life. I do not think there is anything wrong with it unless the woman has some kind of health risks. I think it is better off for the family and the child to be better established within themselves as well as a financial aspect so that way there is less stress to deal with along the way. It is always better to be more over prepared than to be underprepared and take the risk of sinking!
Dorit,
I think the fact that many women having children later in life has a lot to with people getting married later in life. My parents were 21 and 18 when they married. It was a failry common age to get married back in their days. I hear a lot of youger couples also saying they don't want to have children until they have a house. So therefore the economy also has an impact on the age that women choose to have goals.
I think most people know whether they want children or not at an early age. I think people set criteria for when they will have children which takes longer to achieve now than it may have many years ago.
I don't think that women are choosing to risk an unhealthy child over their careers. Women aren't offered the same opportunities to go to school or develop careers. And, it comes down to biology too. Men can't conceive so, women have to make choices that men don't have to make. And, many women are meeting their mates later in life too..maybe because they are career oriented, and other reasons too. Maybe, if we had a society that supported and valued family more women could have both career and family. Our family leave acts stink in this country. Women are left to conceive and be the primary caregivers. There are no support systems set up in the workplace. I would live if our university offered childcare! Women being put in the position to choose either or is outdated gender expectation. We see either women coming back after years of putting their life on hold for their family or having to leave (while the men continue) the workforce. It just seemed a little weird to me in your post that you would think any woman would be thinking "oh, well, I'll just use invitro someday". Thank God, for this science, it has given woman the chance to get pregnant whether they are 35 or 25!
Coming from the experience of infertility and adoption, I can tell you that no one chooses to go through the anxiety and anguish of trying to adopt or invitro normally as their first choice. And, my career had nothing to do with using invitro or eventually adopting. These options offer their own challenges which I won't address in this post.
Doing both is hard work...will there ever be a time when woman won't have to choose either or or?
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