a parenting paradox
Millennials Waited To Have Kids. Now They've Hit An Unexpected Snag
More people are waiting until their 30s to have kids. But that's when careers start taking off.
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The Lede
"Having it all" — raising children while building a professional career — has been the topic of movies, TV shows, and conversations ever since women started making strides into the paid-labor market. Now, with more women working than ever before, they're also waiting longer to have children. It's not so much that women are choosing their careers over having children, but as the cost of raising a child skyrockets, more feel like they need to wait until their careers are established to start a family.
Key Details
- According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the average age at which a woman first gives birth is about 27.
- Josie Cox talked to more than a dozen mothers working in fields such as finance, retail, and consulting. Most of them waited to have kids until they felt secure and financially stable enough.
- In many cases, they say, their employers did little to accommodate them, underscoring a simple truth: For many mothers, work is not working.
