A new study conducted by the Pew Research Center in the U.S. revealed that the number of women who juggle postgraduate studies alongside motherhood is increasing. This disproves the assumption that says women in their late 30s to mid-40s would rather go childless to pursue Ph.D.'s, as the study notes a considerable decline in such a trend.
The data shows that only 22 percent of women with higher education between the ages of 40 to 44 are childless. The number is a huge drop from 30 percent recorded in a study done in 1994. The change is even more dramatic with women aiming for doctorate degrees. In the new study, only 20 percent are childless, compared to 35 percent in 1994.
These numbers are completely different with another study conducted in line with fertility reports, as reported in Wall Street Journal. The said study revealed that there is a noticeable decline of births for women in the prime of their years. About 18.5 percent of women between the ages of 35 to 39 are reportedly choosing to be childless, which is an increase from 17.2 percent from a data culled in 2012.
However, the Pew analysis challenges this with its own findings, claiming that the fertility study was limited. As outlined in its report, "Part of what accounts for the low fertility indicated by annual rates is the fact that many women are putting off having children until later in life, both due to broad cultural changes (such as increasing education), and due to the Great Recession, which intensified delayed childbearing, particularly among younger women."
The Pew analysis has even more surprising results when it found that 60 percent of women with master's degree or higher have more than one child, compared to 51 percent in a previous study.
The study also touched on race and ethnicity as other determinants. Among Caucasian women between the ages of 40 and 44, only 17 percent are without any children, followed by 15 percent among black women, 13 percent among Asian women, and 10 percent among Hispanic women. The blacks and Hispanics prefer to have larger families, while Asians and Caucasians have fewer children than their racial counterparts.
One possible reason for these results is the fact that there are more women attaining higher education compared to two decades ago. As the National Center for Education Statistics puts it, there are more women in different racial groups earning graduate degrees in 2013 than in 1995.
