Lauren Jade Martin Assistant Professor of Sociology - Pennsylvania State University, Berks |
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02.07.2015-30.07.2015
Anticipating Infertility: How Childless Women Negotiate the Biological Clock
As a sociologist of reproduction, this proposed study has implications in the various subfields of sociology of the family, gender, medical sociology, and science and technology studies. This work contributes to a growing literature on the social impact of reproductive technologies. This proposed study examines to what extent technology and medicine alters the timelines and decision-making processes of childless women regarding family building and careers. For example, women may decide to freeze their eggs as a means to further delay childbearing, or may believe that they can count on in vitro fertilization (IVF) or egg donation if they find themselves infertile once they are ready to start a family. Results of this study will also shed a new light on work-family issues, by focusing on how the conceptions of work and family as binary poles affect not only mothers and fathers but also those who do not currently have children. I am especially interested in those who, on the surface, may appear to be engaged in bias avoidance behaviors by “choosing” work over family by delaying childbearing, or who may appear to be “choosing” family over work by structuring their education and careers in such a way that will enable more satisfactory work-family balance once children enter the picture.