Word: childless
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...allow the elderly or the childless exemptions from such taxes would undermine both the financial and moral base for the education system. The belief in public education as an important democratic value has persisted because as a nation we recognize the importance of education's role in developing an intelligent and well-informed citizenry. It's part of the social contract that holds this nation together...
...reproduce and instead forged ahead in the male-dominated work force. Many, of course, have had children, but in far fewer numbers than their mothers. In the 1950s, 9% of women of childbearing age had no children; now 25% of college-educated working women between 35 and 45 are childless. If their younger sisters, now between 25 and 35, also decide not to give birth, the childless rate is likely to remain unusually high. Moreover, the younger women's ambivalence is reinforced by economic realities. "In the 1950s a single breadwinner could support a family of five," says Public Opinion...
...childless have found ways to satisfy their nurturing instincts. Jon Wilkman, 45, a Los Angeles filmmaker, advocates "uncle empowerment," which enables him to take his nephews to concerts and plays. Toni Moore, 47, a schoolteacher from Charlotte who has been married eight years and has chosen not to have children, helps pay tuition for her niece and nephew and takes them along on special vacations. New York City-based Joni Evans, 45, publisher of Random House trade books, openly mothers her authors and colleagues and feels no societal pressure to have children ("People ask, Are you a child person...
...patients in their early 30s. Says Gans: "They ask, 'Will I regret this? What is wrong with me that I didn't want a baby all along?' " (She notes, however, that she also counsels many women who regret having had children.) Some discontented women blame feminism for encouraging their childless state. Feminist Author Betty Friedan, who relishes her role as the mother of two children, sharply disagrees. She insists that feminists are addressing the problems of working mothers. "Half of the women who are childless at 40 are not childless by real choice," says Friedan. "They have not had children...
...backlash of sorts against childlessness may have already begun: the birth rate among college-educated women 20 to 24 years old is beginning to climb. Nonetheless, the decision to have or not to have children is a profound one. Says Yankelovich: "Society is accepting childlessness, but some women question whether they have violated a biological law." Most childless adults who have deliberately made the choice enjoy their freedom with few misgivings. But some of those who find themselves sitting on the fence may have already made a decision they did not intend to make...