Childfree by Circumstance

Key points

Many women are childfree by circumstance, not by choice or infertility.

The motherhood mandate creates invisible pressures across cultures and workplaces.

Childfree women often face unfair assumptions and emotional labor at work.

Unlearning outdated scripts allows women to define worth on their own terms

Finding Our Own Path Source: Illustration by FastInk on Unsplash

A few weeks ago, an often-overlooked community quietly observed World Childless Week . You may not know this, but I marked it, too.

I’m a Board-Certified Psychologist in Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology and have worked with children for nearly thirty years: as a camp counselor, tutor, nanny, teacher, Peace Corps Volunteer, and now as a clinician. I’ll be the first to ask if I can hold your baby o