Successful and childless: The career women from Generation X who have it all... except a family



Almost half of women surveyed are still childless well into their 30s and 40s

Many concentrate on building careers

Almost half of a generation of university-educated women who put their career before a family are childless, a study has revealed.

The women of Generation X were supposed to have it all; an education, a career and little pressure to have children.

However, research from a New York think tank has suggested this generation might have had too much choice as many of them are childless, well into their 30s and 40s.

Trends: While it has been widely suspected that a generation of career women have ended up childless, this is the first research seeming to support this theory

Hot on the heels of the post-war baby boomers, Generation X - those born between 1965 and 1978 - were part of a new era which encouraged women to get an education and climb the career ladder.

But now it would seem their choices to focus on work has left many of them without a family of their own, it has been reported.

AN UNKNOWN GENERATION

The term Generation X was coined by the Magnum photographer Robert Capa in the early 1950s. He would use it later as a title for a photo-essay about young men and women growing up immediately after the Second World War. Describing his intention, Capa said: 'We named this unknown generation, The Generation X, and even in our first enthusiasm we realised that we had something far bigger than our talents and pockets could cope with'. The term was used in a 1964 study of British youth by Jane Deverson, who was asked by Woman's Own magazine to interview teenagers of the time. The study revealed a generation of teenagers who 'sleep together before they are married, were not taught to believe in God as "much", dislike the Queen, and don't respect parents'. The term was later popularised by Canadian author Douglas Coupland's 1991 novel, Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture, concerning young adults during the late 1980s.

According to the Sunday Times, a study carried out by the Center for Work-Life Policy has revealed that 43 per cent of university-educated women from Generation X were child-free.

This is despite about three-quarters of them being in long-term relationships and living with their partners.

A total of 3,000 male and female graduates were interviewed in the U.S. by researchers.

The team carried out further interviews in the UK too, and the results showed very similar trends in both countries.

However, it is unclear why these women have opted out of having children, particularly as the majority of those interviewed were either married or cohabiting.

Lauren Leader-Chivee, who carried out the study, said women in Generation X had mothers who were inspired by the feminist revolution and encouraged their daughters to aim high.

She said many women in the 33 to 46 age group had also faced redundancy in the past, making them more flexible and career-focussed.



She added that this age group has also experienced job redundancies making them more flexible and career-focused.



Karen Segboer, from Warwick, New York, has come to hate fending off questions about her childlessness.

The business of babies: It is unclear precisely why so many women have chosen to remain childless, but career appeared to be a significant factor



Writing for the New York Times, she said: 'Why, in a country so rich in diversity and differences, in a land where contrasts and distinctions are rejoiced and applauded, do child-free people still have to make excuses, why do we still stand out so much?



'It’s almost the last remaining prejudice.'

Mrs Segboer said women are choosing not to have children for a 'combination of factors', one of which is work.

She wrote: 'Maybe we had careers that, during our child-bearing years, were just too important.'



Kim Crundell, a nutritionist from St Albans in the UK, is 44 and is childless. She told the Sunday Times her career has always taken priority and that the focus of her life had been to get an education and carve out a career.

She said: 'I'm part of the first generation of women where there actually wasn't that much pressure to have children.

'My parents were far more interested in me getting a career rather than anything else.'

Previous research into the issue has only hinted at similar trends and this is thought to be the first study adding weight to the theory.



The research will be published later this year.