英国调查:高学历女性大多晚育
Women graduates choosing careers over babies
Women with a university education are choosing to have children later in life, a British research reveals.
It shows that just over one in five female graduates become mothers by the age of 30. This compares to three in five in the mid-1970s.
Experts say the change is linked to women choosing to delay a family because they wish to pursue a career and good lifestyle.
The study, published in the journal Research in Public Policy, said: 'Changing participation in education can only explain one half of the decline.
'What has driven fertility is not just that more women are now pursuing a higher level of education, but better-educated women have very different work and family trajectories than before.
'The generations that saw the biggest increases in childlessness also saw big increases in full-time employment rates, suggesting that some women were choosing careers and not families.'
The changes also mean many educated women are now childless, it added. One in ten women now aged 50 does not have children. But one out of five women in their 30s and 40s is without children. And the rate is still climbing.
双语资讯
(AFP)
英国一项调查表明,上过大学的女性通常选择晚育。
调查显示,在上过大学的女性中,仅有五分之一的人在30岁之前生育。上世纪70年代中期这一数字为五分之三。
有关专家称,这一变化主要与女性选择晚婚有关,因为她们想追求事业以及一个好的生活方式。
这项在《公共政策研究》期刊上发表的研究报告称:“受教育程度的改变只是其中的一部分原因。”
“女性推迟生育并不仅仅是因为如今越来越多的女性追求高学历,高学历女性的‘工作和家庭轨迹’与从前大不一样也是其中的一个原因。”
“生育率大幅降低的几代人就业率却大幅增长,这表明有些女性看重的是事业而不是家庭。”
研究报告中称,这些变化还表明很多高学历女性目前还没有孩子。在50岁的女性中,十分之一的人没有孩子。但在30岁至40岁的女性中,有五分之一的女性没有孩子,而且这一比例还在继续攀升。
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