Pushing for the perfect time: Social and biological fertility

This study explores how women consider embodied knowledge about their “biological clocks” alongside personal and professional goals as they make decisions about whether, when, and how to have children in the future. Based on 71 in-depth interviews with childless women between the ages of 25 and 40, the author proposes a holistic understanding of fertility inclusive of the biological limitations of the body as well as sociocultural factors including access to family leave, childcare, finances, housing, employment, and relationship status. By expanding our understanding of fertility to include the social, we can better understand why women considering having children advocate for social structural changes just as much as-if not more than-increased access to reproductive technologies.