Fifty shades of freedom. Voluntary childlessness as women's ultimate liberation

Missing Out on the Parenthood Bonus? Voluntarily Childless in a “Child-friendly” Society

“…Establishing exactly which policies that can achieve an increase in fertility is beyond the scope of this paper. What can be concluded is that a wide range of motivators influences such a life decision as remaining childless, some of which are related to social, cultural, economical, political and gender-specific pre-conditions (Peterson 2014b;Peterson and Engwall 2013).…”

We Are Best Friends: Animals in Society

“…As seen above, the women described a need for freedom that not only prevented them from parenting a child but also from parenting a companion animal (cf. Peterson 2015). Similar arguments, regarding these women's need for freedom, were thus used to support their decision not to have children and to support their decision not to have an animal companion.…”

“Never Say Never?” Heterosexual, Bisexual, and Lesbian Women’s Accounts of Being Childfree

“…Indeed, childfree women have reported that they have faced disbelief at their decision, experienced pressure to have children, and received unwelcome advice from friends, family, and others on how to alleviate the "problem" (Addie & Brownlow, 2014;Doyle et al, 2012;Gillespie, 2000Gillespie, , 2003. Participants have also highlighted gender inequalities and emphasized how, within the context of different-sex relationships, parental responsibilities fall mainly on women (Peterson, 2014;Shaw, 2011). Childfree women's resistance to pronatalism and associated traditional gender roles has meant that some women have reportedly been perceived by others as cold, materialistic, selfish, or immature (Blackstone & Stewart, 2012;Carmichael & Whittaker, 2007;Dever & Saugeres, 2004;Gillespie, 2000;Shaw, 2011).…”

“…However, wherever possible we use the term "childfree" to refer specifically to a voluntary status. This is based on research, online sources, and in response to conference papers we have presented, that childfree is the most commonly used and least disliked term among women (see, Blackstone & Stewart, 2012;Jackson, 2018;Hayfield, Clarke, Ellis & Terry, 2016;Peterson, 2014).…”