“Otherhood”

A new book is out about childless single women of childbearing age, women who want to have kids:

Like millions of women in North America, it’s the situation I’m in and it’s the situation author Melanie Notkin is in. She calls it “otherhood,” a demographic of women who would like to be mothers, but who want to have children within the framework of a loving relationship, a.k.a. marriage. Notkin claims this is a growing demographic — nearly half of North American women of child-bearing age are childless — and my own anecdotal evidence supports this. Yours probably does, too. How many fantastic single women do you know? Now, think about how many single men you know. I’m betting heavily that the answer is far fewer of the latter.

…

For women of the otherhood, this book provides assurances that what they’re feeling and experiencing are real and valid, but it still doesn’t address why this is happening. Of course, Notkin can’t provide answers because there aren’t really any to be had. If there were, the number of single, childless women wouldn’t be on the rise.

I think we have more answers then the author thinks we have.

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