Joan Cronin: Free women often choose to remain child-free — why's that so hard to understand?

While finance can influence family planning, particularly the number of children women will have, it is rarely the sole deciding factor

We must urgently re-evaluate the cultural expectations placed upon women.

There is growing discussion about the decline in birth rates in Ireland, with fewer workers and growing concerns about how state pensions for our growing elderly population will be funded in the future. This is due in part to the severe housing crisis which currently persists, rising living costs, and the lack of suitable and affordable childcare. But the discussion ignores the other, more personal, reasons for this decline.

With greater access to education and more economic independence, women are no longer confined to strictly domestic roles. Instead, increasing numbers of women are pursuing careers in the world of paid employment, with greater autonomy and capacity for individualised decision making, including the decision to pursue a life without children.