30/05/2024
We know that many LGBTQIA+ people have children and that they make excellent parents. Indeed, some studies suggest that children have some advantages being brought up outside the heterosexual nuclear family. But what about heterosexual and cisgender people who do not want children? The BBC News Channel met up with members of the group Bristol Childfree Women, to learn about cultural expectations and prejudices. BCW has over five hundred members of women who have elected not to have children. Caroline Mitchell always knew she never wanted children, she wasn't prepared for how hard reaching "child-bearing age" would be. The 46-year-old, who lives with her husband in Brislington, Bristol, said while it never bothered her when she was younger, she had not anticipated the barrage of personal questions she would face as friends and acquaintances started to have children. Shockingly, people who are childless have been accused of being selfish, of being not "real women", which is significant, as this phrase is stolen from extremist feminist separatists who dislike transwomen. And all of this judgement also seems strange when communities such as religious orders of celibate women have been celebrated as dutiful and caregiving for many centuries. Official figures released in 2022, external show record numbers of women are reaching the age of 30 child-free. More than half (50.1%) of women in England and Wales born in 1990 were without a child when they turned 30 in 2020, the first generation to do so, according to the Office for National Statistics. Caroline said she would be a "resentful mother", adding there were a "huge amount of upsides" to not having children, like focusing her time on her relationship with her husband and her hobbies. Another member of the group said “There’s a lot of joy to be had in not having kids .... It isn't all about freedom and money. It's about choice." https://www.meetup.com/bristol-childfree-womens-meetup/
