Women Are Easing Lack Of Suitable Mates And Career Advanvement Pressure In New Ways: Egg Freezing

Some heterosexual women who want their own children conceived with partners they love are using egg freezing to buy time while they wait for said partners to materialize.

Men do not lose the chance to become fathers if they work hard to progress their careers in their 20s and 30s, mainly because fertility does not fall beyond age 35 like it does for women. Also, up until recently, stay-at-home wives always assisted in freeing up men to concentrate on their breadwinning jobs.

This is the main reason behind a new wave of women who are freezing their eggs for a later date, so they can focus on their careers and lives without the pressure of a fertility expiration date. The discussion around egg freezing usually centers on the question of whether technology can, or should, be used to reduce biological and social inequalities. Leveling the playing field, if you will.

Eggs in a fertility clinicPhoto byRichelleg/canva

Answers to this question typically reflect a person's likes or dislikes of the ability to freeze healthy eggs, as well as their belief (or lack thereof) that society should equalize the biological differences in fertility between men and women.

The women in the study were women who wanted to be mothers but felt time was running out. 82% were single, unmarried women. They said that they were using egg freezing as a means to "buy time" and maintain their hope of getting married and having biological children. With 80% of the women in the study holding advanced degrees and one-third having attended an Ivy League school, these ladies were an exceptionally accomplished group. Although it may be easy to write this off as a "First World professional women's problem," it is unsettling to consider that women's direct success now comes with a planned pregnancy penalty.

Photo byRichelleg

In terms of educational achievement, women are surpassing men, and this is true everywhere, not just in the United States. They are referred to as "third gender," "surplus women," and "leftover women." Ask vice presidential hopeful J.D. Vance. He seems to think women without a man are "miserable, with lots of cats."

Photo byRichelleg/canva

However, the situation in which women are dependent on men (to mature, make commitments, and feel at ease in an equal partnership) and women who make themselves unmarryable through overachievement implies that not much has changed in terms of gender norms. For some, egg freezing greatly reduces anxiety and maintains hope; for others, it facilitates white picket fence conformance.

I think people should be able to do what they feel is right for them. If you can afford to freeze your eggs and want to work on your career, or give yourself more time to find a suitable mate before settling down to make a family, go for it, girl!

Fertility clinicPhoto byRichelleg/canva

Citations:

‘Motherhood on ice’: Exploring why women freeze their eggs. (2023, May 9). YaleNews. https://news.yale.edu/2023/05/09/motherhood-ice-exploring-why-women-freeze-their-eggs

Staff, P. F. C., & Staff, P. F. C. (2023, August 25). A Good Man is Hard to Find: Egg Freezing and the ‘Mating Gap’ - Bill of Health. Bill of Health - the Blog of the Petrie-Flom Center at Harvard Law School. https://blog.petrieflom.law.harvard.edu/2023/08/30/a-good-man-is-hard-to-find-egg-freezing-and-the-mating-gap/

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/apr/23/motherhood-women-freeze-eggs-male-partners-men-fertility

https://www.forbes.com/sites/emmylucas/2022/03/09/employees-say-unsustainable-workloads-and-expectations-are-driving-them-to-quit/?sh=3de2bcc47c34