Here’s a link to my recent guest blog at Mothering in the Middle: The blog for new midlife mothers: Ladies in Waiting.
Ladies in Waiting
Delayer Boom!
Today’s Census headline tells us there’s a “delayer boom” underway, as more educated women have children later. This is not a surprise here! … They conclude that women with a college degree or more will end up with around 1.7 kids, as opposed to women with less than a high school degree, with 2.5 kids. But increasing numbers of the later moms are still having kids in the 35-44 range – and in increasing numbers every year (see story on the 2009 data below) — so the 1.7 is not great data. And of course none of this data includes adopted children. Stay tuned!
A Dose of Pro-Natalism for Mother’s Day: What’s Up with That?
Pronatalism (basically, promoting more births) serves a variety of purposes, which you may variously like or not – but be on the look out in the coming months for texts that claim to be pushing babies on you for your benefit. There may be other logics at work and groups seeking to benefit as well.
Fertility Up, among women 40+
If, when the recession ends, a resurgence in births follows, it could be made all the more strong by the pent up demand of women who’ve delayed. Which could mean an even greater rise in births to women 40+.
Helen of Troy: Some of Women’s History Should Stay That Way
March is women’s history month, but this year we’re getting a special kind of history lesson. The anti-woman agenda being ram-rodded through legislatures this term is ancient. At least since Helen of Troy, our leaders have been actively denying women the right to choose how to run their private lives.
Tighter Belts, Later Bumps
a href=”http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-gregory-birthrate-20110109,0,2745694.story”>Here’s a link to my op-ed today in the LA Times.
Awful Busy: Single Moms, Childcare & the Paycheck Fairness Act
So how do we expand childcare access now?
One direct way would be to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act. Just like in all those studies of women around the globe who will much more reliably spend extra cash on their kids than will the dads, if you put more money in American women’s pockets (as in, give them the raise that a fair wage would involve) and they’ll spend some important part of that on finding better care for their kids. A point you might make to your senators in the next week or two. Can the lame ducks fly?