Raising kids is a full-time job — and a handful of happy, high-powered career women do not want to be interviewed for the position.
“Don’t ever ask any woman about her uterus. It’s none of your business why I don’t have kids yet,” Dr. Tasha Coleman, 45, told The Post, referring to the incessant inquiries she and other childfree women receive after deciding to postpone or completely forgo motherhood.
“It’s highly offensive when people assume that women like me chose to pursue a career over having kids,” continued Coleman, an editorial media specialist and production manager at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey.
“Because, even if I had a baby right now, I’d still need a thriving career in order to financially support the child,” she added.
Coleman’s sentiments echo those of Hollywood A-lister Jennifer Aniston, 52, who recently slammed critics for constantly questioning her choice to indefinitely delay becoming a mother.
“I used to take it all very personally — the pregnancy rumors and the whole, ‘Oh, she chose career over kids’ assumption,” the “Morning Show” star explained to the Hollywood Reporter as its Dec. 8 cover girl.
“It’s like, you have no clue what’s going with me personally, medically, why I can’t … can I have kids? They don’t know anything,” she continued, dubbing the decades-long scrutiny “hurtful” and “nasty.”
And Coleman, like Aniston, argues that a woman’s value should not be tied to her decision to procreate — especially now, as Americans are sidestepping parenthood at record rates, owing to the twin public health and economic crises spurred by the pandemic.
In fact, a November 2021 survey by Pew Research Center found that a rising share of US adults who are not already parents are unlikely to ever have children.
Per the study, a staggering 44% of non-parents between 18 and 49 say it’s “not too or not at all likely” that they will have children someday.
And although she’s outside of the survey pool’s age range, Dr. Jessica Hawk-Ippolito proudly counts herself among the number of childfree folks with no desire to raise babies.
“Since I was a little girl I knew that I never wanted to have children,” said Hawk-Ippolito, 52, a high school English teacher in Franklinville, New Jersey. “I’ve always wanted to excel in my career, and without having the maternal urge to have children I‘ve been fortunate enough to lead a very free and fulfilling life on my own terms.”
The tenured teacher-turned-TikTok star recently scored more than 6.3 million views with a parody video in which she hilariously reacts to the many criticisms she receives for choosing not to become a parent.
“All throughout my adult life people have said some really rude things like, ‘You’ll change your mind about having kids when you’re older,’ or ‘You’ll regret not having kids when you’re old and lonely, and no one’s around to care for you,’” Hawk-Ippolito explained.
“But here I am, 52, and that hasn’t happened yet,” she laughed, noting that she’s never experienced baby fever nor any child-rearing remorse. “I’m good.“
And she hopes her story, and others like it, will help to further de-stigmatize the childfree lifestyle.
“For so long, women didn’t even realize that they had the choice not to become mothers,” said the educator, who’s received messages from women in Russia, India and the Philippines praising her for powerfully promoting their right to pass on parenting.
“We have to begin teaching the younger generation, girls and boys, that you define your life the way you want it to be,” she added. “If that means having ten kids, great. If that means having no kids, great.”
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