Sarah Jessica Parker, left, and Pierce Brosnan in I Don't Know How She Does It, in which she plays a busy mother. A survey said women put off starting a family fearing they will lose their career and looks. |
A generation of young women have been putting off starting a family because it will damage their lifestyle, career and looks, a survey shows. One in three childless women quizzed now say they don't ever want to become a mother while increasing numbers of thirty-somethings in stable relationships and with good jobs have different priorities. Almost half would rather get on the property ladder than have a baby while 28 percent would prefer a £100,000 salary, according to a poll of 2,000 women. The Grazia magazine report commissioned to coincide with the release of Sarah Jessica Parker's latest film I Don't Know How She Does It uncovered a whole new tribe dubbed the 'I Don't Know Why She Does It' generation. The film portrays the life of a high-flying professional woman Kate Reddy, who also looks after two children in the evening and is happily married to an out-of-work architect. Childless women just aren't willing to make the sacrifices they now see are necessary for motherhood with 44 percent feeling sorry for working mums struggling to have it all, the survey said. A quarter think working mothers always look exhausted and one in five say it looks so difficult it makes them think twice about having children. Half of childless women over 30 look at stay-at-home mothers and think it will be difficult for them to get back on the career ladder and a fifth believe they've lost their identity. Body issues are also a factor with three in ten worried about the effect pregnancy would have on their appearance. Almost a third think having a baby would make them less body confident while almost one in three mothers miss their pre-baby figure and feel judged by society thanks to coverage of glamorous celebrity mums. Four in ten childless women say they're not ready to give up their lifestyle - and a quarter still feel too young for a child. Meanwhile 26 percent admit they are fearful of the effect motherhood would have on their career. Almost half think having a child would make them poorer and over half say they couldn't afford a baby even if they wanted one. The survey also identifies a rise in the 'emotionally infertile' - childless women who feel they have left it too late to have a baby with women admitting they put their career first or they didn't meet the right man. (Read by Christine Mallari. Christine Mallari is a journalist at the China Daily Website.) (Agencies) |
調(diào)查顯示,英國年輕女性一代推遲生育是因為生小孩會影響她們的生活方式、職業(yè)生涯和外貌。 現(xiàn)在有1/3無子女的受訪女性稱她們永遠也不想當(dāng)媽媽,而越來越多感情關(guān)系穩(wěn)定并擁有好工作的三十多歲的女性則把其他事情看得比生育更重要。 根據(jù)一項涵蓋了2000名女性的調(diào)查,近半數(shù)女性寧愿要更多的房產(chǎn)而不是要小孩,28%的女性比起要小孩更想要10萬英鎊的年薪。 《Grazia》雜志委托開展的這一調(diào)查發(fā)布時,恰逢莎拉?杰西卡?帕克的最新電影《我不知道她怎么辦到的》上映。該片展示了一個全新的族群,號稱“我不知道她為什么要這么做”一代。 這部電影描繪了成功的職業(yè)女性凱特?蕾迪的生活,她晚上要照顧兩個小孩,而且還和一位失業(yè)的建筑師擁有美滿的婚姻。 調(diào)查稱,無子女的女性就是不愿做出那些在她們現(xiàn)在看來為人母所需做出的犧牲,44%的人很同情那些艱辛地兩頭奔忙的職場母親們。 1/4的受訪女性認(rèn)為職場母親看起來總是一副精疲力盡的樣子,1/5的女性說,做職場母親看起來很難,這讓她們在要小孩這個事情上猶豫再三。 半數(shù)年過三十的無子女的女性認(rèn)為全職媽媽難以重回職場,1/5的女性認(rèn)為她們已經(jīng)失去了自己的身份。 形體問題也是她們擔(dān)心的一個方面,十分之三的受訪女性擔(dān)心懷孕會對她們的容貌產(chǎn)生影響。 近1/3的人認(rèn)為生小孩會讓她們對自己的身材失去信心。近1/3的媽媽們懷念她們生育前的身材,看著鏡頭前那些光彩照人的明星媽媽們,感覺社會也投來了指摘的目光。 十分之四的無子女的女性說她們還沒準(zhǔn)備好放棄自己的生活方式,四分之一的女性覺得自己還很年輕,不到要小孩的時候。 與此同時,26%的女性承認(rèn)她們害怕養(yǎng)育兒女會影響職業(yè)生涯。 近半數(shù)的女性認(rèn)為要小孩會讓她們變窮,超過半數(shù)的女性說就算她們想要小孩,也養(yǎng)不起。 調(diào)查還發(fā)現(xiàn),越來越多的女性有“不育情緒”,即那些無子女的女性覺得自己耽誤了要小孩的時機,她們承認(rèn)自己過去將事業(yè)放在首位或沒有遇到對的人。 相關(guān)閱讀 現(xiàn)代人認(rèn)為七八十年代的母親更好當(dāng) (中國日報網(wǎng)英語點津 陳丹妮 編輯:Julie) |
Vocabulary: start a family: 生孩子 high-flying: 成功的,發(fā)達的 think twice: 重新考慮;三思 |