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Why some women are saying no to children

22 September 2004

Monash research has found that lack of recognition is a key contributor to Australia's falling birthrate.

The research team from left: Dr JaneMaree Maher, Dr Andrew Singleton, Dr Maryanne Dever and Dr Jennifer Curtin.

The study pinpointed the lack of recognition of the contribution mothers make to society as an influential factor for some women who decide not to have children.

Most women surveyed felt motherhood was viewed ambivalently by the general community.

The research was conducted by Dr Maryanne Dever, Dr JaneMaree Maher, Dr Jennifer Curtin and Dr Andrew Singleton from the School of Political and Social Inquiry in the Faculty of Arts.

"While most women said motherhood was an important job, even if they were not planning to become mothers, they recognised that mothers were not accorded high status and their contribution wasn't always valued," said team leader Dr Dever.

"For women with children, this often meant they valued their work as a crucial aspect of their identity. For women choosing not to have children, this lack of support was often mentioned in how they had decided motherhood was not for them."

The 'Families, fertility and the future: hearing the voice of Australians' study was based on interviews with more than 100 men and women in metropolitan, regional and rural Victoria.

The study also found that:

  • women who were childless by choice did not fit the stereotype of career-driven high achievers or those who could not find partners
  • women with more than three children displayed significant, ongoing attachments to the workforce
  • policies and entitlements did not generally influence the timing of first births or decisions about having children, but they were particularly important to women choosing to have more than one child.