While having kids seemed to be expected of young adults in the past, there appears to be a decline in the appeal of young-adult parenthood today, notably since the year 2000. According to the CDC, the average age for women births was 24.9 in 2000 and had increased to 26 in 2017. Are young women losing interest in motherhood? If so, why?
Mona Chalabi, a data editor for the Guardian US, writes about some of the everyday effects of young-adult parenthood for both males and females in her article titled Read this before you have a baby (especially if you’re a woman). According to Chalabi, women spend less time working when they have children under 7 than when they are without children. Less work means less income, and whatever is being earned most likely goes towards the well-being and care of the child. Not only do women sacrifice more money by having a child, but they also have less time for leisure, namely watching TV. Women with children spend fewer hours in a day watching TV than those who don’t. Having more money to spend on one’s self and time to focus on work and leisure are a few of the reasons that young women are choosing to wait longer to have children. Perhaps having children just isn’t as appealing to young women anymore.
“…if you’re a woman who enjoys paid work or relaxing activities, having kids will cramp your style” – Chalabi
Chalabi uses data from the CDC, a trustworthy, government organization that has many divisions, including the National Center for Health Statistics, Division of Vital Statistics, Reproductive Statistics Branch. She also utilizes the US Dept. of Labor’s American Time Use Survey which is, again, a credible government source. Aside from source credibility, she does something unique and highly valuable- she explains why she analyzed what she did and recognizes possible faults in her methods.
“Obviously averages differ a bit over the course of a week but for the purposes of this analysis, I just took the average day regardless of when it fell during the week or year” – Chalabi
When presenting data, it’s important to explain the process behind the analysis so that readers can trust the methods used and the results formed. Chalabi makes sure to inform her audience of the possible problems with the data in connection to her claims as well.
“Some of these differences could be explained by other factors like age – the older you are, the more likely you are to have children and maybe as men get older they spend more time at work but as women get older they’re less likely to (meaning that it’s the job and not the presence of kids that affects work hours)” – Chalabi
She repeats this tactic throughout each of the ATUS data sets that she analyzes. This ability to recognize uncertainty and alternative hypotheses makes Chalabi’s analysis more thorough and holistic, and therefore a better, less biased reference for answering questions with the use of data analysis.
Overall, Mona Chalabi’s analysis and synthesis of data from the American Time Usage Survey and the CDC holds value in its recognition of alternative hypotheses, uncertainty, and counterclaims, as well as its use of trustworthy, credible sources. Knowing this, it’s safe to say that there is significant evidence pointing towards young women feeling less inclined to have children today than at the start of the 21st century.
References:
Matthews, T. J., and Brady E. Hamilton. “Mean Age of Mothers Is on the Rise: United States, 2000–2014.” NCHS Data Brief, U.S. Department of Health and Health Services, Jan. 2016, http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db232.pdf.
Chalabi, Mona. “Read This Before You Have a Baby (Especially If You’re a Woman).” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 8 Dec. 2017, http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2017/dec/07/datablog-children-parents-time-read-this-before-you-have-a-baby-especially-if-youre-a-woman.
Data/Society/Decision-making Spring 2019 