At 16, I Decided Not to Have Kids
Why Society Can’t Handle The Childfree Choice (And Why That Needs to Change)
It’s 1792, and Mary Wollstonecraft has just published “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman.” The audacity to suggest that women deserved education and equal rights.
But here’s where it gets interesting.
After Wollstonecraft died, she wasn’t attacked for her radical ideas. Nope. She was vilified for having a child out of wedlock. Horace Walpole, a contemporary writer, called her a “hyena in petticoats.” Now, I’m no zoologist, but hyenas don’t wear petticoats.
What’s the connection to our modern-day childless woman stereotypes?
It’s all about control and conformity. In Wollstonecraft’s time, a woman with a child out of wedlock was scandalous. Today, a woman without children is an oddity.
Different centuries, the same underlying message: women who don’t fit the mould are a problem.
Here’s where it gets really fascinating. If we apply economic thinking, we can see it as a market correction. Society is vested in women having children, ensuring the next generation of workers, consumers, and taxpayers.
When women choose not to participate in this “market,” society responds by devaluing…
