Childlessness and Women Managers: 'Choice', Context and Discourses

Childlessness is increasing and might reflect acceptance of diversity, scope for individual choice, and a creative 'social imaginary' about being feminine without being a mother. Childlessness also appears to have a contextual manifestation arising from the recognition that the long hours work culture in many organizations does not support appropriate parenting. A qualitative study of Australian managers reveals the contradictory discourses of childlessness around enlightened equality, maternalism, an elusive, ideal 'work-life balance', and individualism. The paper explores a contextually nuanced, dynamic, generative theory of agency, which does not hinge on the mother-child dyad, in explaining women managers' choices to remain childless.