A recent study from Pew Research Center suggests that getting a degree in higher education doesn’t mean that women are putting off having children, according to the publication Sun Times.
The number of highly educated women who are childless into their mid-40s has fallen drastically over the last two decades, according to Today Online.
The decline has reportedly become most significant among women in their 40s who have Master’s Degrees or Phd’s as 20 percent have reported having no children compared to the 35 percent in 1994.
“As more women entered the labor force and became professionals, a lot of them put off having children,” stated William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution, who was not involved in the study.
“But then they realize that there’s a biological clock, and they start playing catch up as they understand the importance of family life, and know that it’s something they want.”
Researchers reportedly found that highly educated women are having bigger families as well. Six in 10 reportedly have two or more children, a 51 percent higher number than in 1994.
Highly educated women are reportedly more likely to be married now than 20 years ago as well. Advancement in technology has also reportedly increased opportunities for women to have children, including methods such as in vitro fertilization.
Many women are now earning advanced degrees, meaning that the women who are choosing to have children have a different mindset, according to Gretchen Livingston, the Pew senior researcher who conducted the analysis.
“From where I stand, as someone with a Phd, I see that lots of people getting Phd now, and they don’t all go off to be research professor,” explained Livingston.
“Perhaps it’s a different group now, less single-mindedly focused on their career.”
