Generation of little emperors

Rise in mothers with just one baby as more women take career path

the proportion of women past child-bearing age with just one child is at its highest for almost 40 years, it emerged yesterday.

the total of those bringing up socalled ‘little emperors’ compares with the generation of young women whose lives were disrupted by the Second World War.

this rapid increase in the number of one-child mothers was brought about by the millions of women pursuing careers and a good salary who have neither the time nor money to have larger families, analysts said.

their youngsters are sometimes referred to as ‘little emperors’ after the Chinese term for the spoilt and demanding behaviour of only children.

In a report, the Office for national Statistics said 17 per cent of women who reached 45 last year had just one child. the age is regarded as the point at which a woman is not expected to have more children. the level was just 13 per cent in 2010.

the last time there was a similar proportion of one-child mothers at 45 was in 1975 – those who were born in 1930 whose childbearing years were adversely affected by the Second World War and its aftermath.

In 1975, just over one in ten women were childless, compared with 18 per cent last year – a level that means more than a third of women today have no children or just one.

ONS officials said the trend towards one-child and childless families followed social changes in the lives of most women.

they said the rise in smaller families stemmed from more women going into higher educa-

‘Difficult to juggle work and children’

tion and careers, the increasing difficulties and delays for many in forming a partnership and getting married, and ‘the desire to establish a career, get on the housing ladder and ensure financial stability before starting a family’. the report said the rea- sons for not having children include the lower proportion of married women, ‘changes in the perceived costs and benefits of child-rearing versus work and leisure activities, greater social acceptability of the child-free lifestyle’, and the postponement of decisions about whether to have children until it is too late.

the rise in one-child mothers comes at a time of unprecedented success for women at work. Official figures on the gender pay gap show women in fulltime jobs earn more than men until they are 40, when raising a family takes over for many.

Author and family researcher Patricia Morgan said: ‘ If you have to juggle work and family, it is very difficult to juggle with more than one child.’