Growing numbers of Australian women are defying tradition and opting not to get pregnant, with some citing issues like population growth and climate change while others just “don’t want to.”
Since the 1960s, Australia’s birth rate has been steadily declining, but this tendency has been worse in recent years as more women choose to prioritise their careers and personal lives above starting a family.
According to the Australia Bureau of Statistics, Australian women had 1.98 children on average in 2008, but by 2021, that number had dropped to a historic low of only 1.58.
Officials claim that the epidemic and fewer registrations are to blame for that amount, but Australians contend that far more significant factors are at play.
Despite talking about having kids, Rachael Schnurr and her husband Dan “lean more and further away from it every year.”
Initially, having a large biological family was the intention, but circumstances have changed, she told Daily Mail Australia.
It was difficult to think about it any other way once we began to consider how absurd it is to keep reproducing on this overcrowded world.
Despite having spoken about having kids, Rachael Schnurr and her husband Dan (seen above together) “lean more and further away from it every year.”
Even though Australians are very wealthy by global standards, many claim that additional reasons for not having children include the growing cost of living, inflation, and housing costs.
Climate change is also a major problem, since increasing ocean temperatures and more severe weather events deter individuals from having children, both out of concern for the future of their offspring and out of a desire to avoid contributing to global overpopulation.
One of those who said that her worries about how people are affecting the environment were a factor in her choice was 28-year-old Felicity Lochhead.
She stated, “I’m at the point in my life when everyone wants to know when we’re going to have kids.”
South of Sydney, in the Illawarra region, Ms. Lochhead and her husband Hayden, 30, reside. They claimed to be attempting to strike a balance between their desire to start a family and the effects of global warming.
‘I am continuously learning about and concentrating on the harm we have done and continue to cause. It is downbeat, she observed.
“Even though I think I would be a wonderful mother, I am very, very nervous to have children… I’m at a loss on what to do.
Maria, a TikTok celebrity from Sydney, thought about a variety of things, including the possibility that she wouldn’t like her children, the “apocalypse,” and the cost of having a family.
Reasons why I won’t be having kids. First and foremost, I don’t want to, she said in a video clip.
Second, I do not want to get pregnant. I don’t want my body to undergo changes, my organs to migrate, or for anything to be in there for nine months.
Pregnancy may cause frightening things for women, like hair loss and tooth loss. I’d prefer not to experience it.
What if I don’t like them, number three? Children will mature and develop their own ideas and viewpoints.
What if they’re so obnoxious that I end up despising my kid? What if they use a podcast to become an alpha male? Then, what do I do?
The likelihood of a future “apocalypse” and the stress of surviving were the fourth and last reasons.
I constantly consider the worst-case scenarios that may occur, and I’m already concerned about having to take care of myself and my family; I don’t want to add a child to that list of stressors,’ she added.
“The state of the globe is dire. Realistically, we may not have access to food in 25 years. Do I want to be concerned for a kid and myself? No.’
Maria said that instead of bearing children of her own, she is content with serving as the “fun aunty” to her siblings’ children.
Author Alicia Young told SMH that she preferred to pursue her profession above getting married and starting a family.
Ms. Young admits to having hundreds of nieces and nephews despite coming from a huge Catholic family and realising early on that parenthood “wasn’t for me.”
“When I give it some thought, I think a variety of factors contribute to people choosing not to have children. She added, “A happy life was one in which I could travel widely and have a media job with the freedom to follow a major news item at any time.”
Additionally, my prior experience as a social worker in the field of child protection wasn’t helpful. I spent seven years looking into the unimaginable abuse that parents—often individuals who seemed to be extremely loving in public—had meted out to their children.
“You never know what’s going on in people’s houses,” I thought at the time. If I ever had kids, I knew I’d be so overly cautious that I’d have a hard time letting them go on play dates. And you cannot abuse a kid in that way!
The journalist said that she and her spouse met while they were young and became close because they both wanted to forego having children in favour of living and travelling abroad.
She said that having children is not a guarantee that you won’t feel lonely and that many women have confided in her that they might have had happy lives apart from parenthood.
Author Alicia Young said that she preferred to pursue her work above getting married and starting a family.
Refinery 29 asked readers why they didn’t want children and many responded with the most basic of explanations.
One lady replied, “I don’t detest kids or anything; I just don’t believe they’re for me.”
Another lady said, “Some people aren’t intended to be parents and that’s OK.”
Kay, 26, said she believed she could have a different kind of influence on the lives of kids in her immediate area.
“We need more of them anyhow,” she told the publication, “and I’m pleased to be that non-parental adult that youngsters in my life can come to for counsel or to confide in.”
I’m not prepared to give up my individuality to be a mother, one person simply said.
Young American women have also confirmed their plans not to have children, showing that the problem does not just affect Australia.
El Johnson, who is 24 years old, has decided she will not become a parent, but she and her fiancée have not ruled out adoption.
The graduate student who works in legal services in Austin, Texas, has a litany of reasons why she doesn’t want to have children, including the environmental catastrophe and a hereditary illness.
Johnson added, “I don’t believe it’s responsible to bring children into this world.” Already, there are children in need of homes. I have no idea how the world will be in 20, 30, or 40 years.
In fact, she is so certain that she will soon have her tubes removed. The demise of Roe v. Wade and severe limits on abortion services in her state and around the nation have cemented this cautious choice.
Kyah and Walter King reside in a Las Vegas suburb. Kyah, a college career counsellor, 28, and Walter, a sports data scientist, 29, have been dating for over ten years, the past four of which have been spent as a married pair. It took both of them some time to come to the conclusion that they didn’t want to have children.
The switch kind of turned when we were in our early twenties, Kyah said. We had just relocated to California and were just beginning to live as adults. At one time, I believe we discussed having three children. However, merely considering the economics, the status of the globe, and the logistics of bringing children into the world is difficult. We really first began to have our reservations at that point.
Money is the main concern. The two make roughly $235,000 AUD before taxes together, with Kyah owing about $120,000 in school loans and Walter having about $7,357 left over. The couple said that without making significant sacrifices that they are not ready to undertake, they would not be able to purchase a home and pay for even one kid.
However, Kyah’s choice is far more important to her than only the financial aspect.
I believe we’d make wonderful parents, but the idea of giving birth under our medical system scares me a lot. According to Kyah, a Black woman, black moms are not cherished in the same way that white mothers are.
Walter said he’ll think about getting a vasectomy after Kyah’s IUD runs out, a practise that became more popular among males under 30 during the epidemic.
For the book “So When are You Having Kids?” by Jordan Davidson, which will be published in December, she spoke with more than 300 individuals. According to her, the epidemic caused many women who were considering having children to put off becoming pregnant.
These personal timeframes, such as “I aim to complete X by three years from now,” altered. She said that people weren’t always prepared to alter their course and declare, “OK, I’m going to give up these successes and do this differently.”
People continue to want to travel. They still want to pursue graduate studies. They continue to aim to reach certain financial goals.
Emily Shapiro, a 23-year-old copywriter for a pharmaceutical advertising firm in New York City, makes $88,313 a year, saves money by living at home, and has never desired kids.
They cling to you. Picking up a child who is coated in ice cream would never occur to me. I have a little fear of germs. I’m not interested in changing diapers. I wouldn’t want one if I did have one until they were, say, in sixth grade. It would be unjust, I suppose, since the actual Earth isn’t doing very well.
According to Dannie Lynn Murphy, who assists Google in hiring software engineers, she was almost 17 years old when child protective authorities took her from her family owing to a history of child abuse. She said that her wife was also reared in a “not terrific” household.
She stated, “At one time, both of us would have said yes to babies.” The concept of having the opportunity to raise someone differently than I was raised appealed to me when I was in my late teens and early adult years. But being a youngster has its share of practical challenges.
Murphy makes around $151,604 a year, but stock and incentives may increase that to $441,566. Her wife works as an attorney and makes roughly $88,313. Their residence in Seattle is rented.
The 28-year-old Murphy added, “I can’t see myself committing to a mortgage, much alone a kid.” “I believe that money is the main factor. Instead of pouring a half million dollars into raising a kid, I would rather use that money to travel. Additionally, there is now a dread of treating our kids the same way our parents treated us.
The 31-year-old Alyssa Persson grew up in a rural South Dakota hamlet. It was entrenched in the society to get married and have kids, she said. She didn’t stop to consider what she really want from life until after her divorce from her high school love.
‘Most women where I’m from lose their identities in parenthood,’ said Persson, a university librarian who now lives in St. Louis and makes about $47,000 year.
She owes roughly $80,000 in student loan debt. Persson, a former teacher who enjoys spending time with kids, believes that she is thinking more clearly than ever about the expenses, consequences, and sacrifices that come with becoming a parent.
To be honest, she remarked, “Having children seems like a trap to me.” “In a financial, social, emotional, and physical sense. And if there were ever any question, the fact that I cannot sustain myself comfortably on my wage is enough to completely put me off the notion.