The full BBC World Service: Business Daily broadcast “The economics of older mums.”
During a BBC World Service interview with Zoe Kleinman on 12 October 2021, Louisa Ghevaert was pleased to join the debate about why many women are delaying motherhood, how technology is helping, what the law says about all things fertility and the workplace and how things have changed in recent years.
Louisa explains that we now have better assisted reproductive technology and success rates and that this has lead to more demand for fertility treatment. In the UK, there has been a tenfold increase in egg-freezing over the last ten years and IVF success rates are broadly three times better then they were in 1991. Louisa discusses how this is feeding into trends in later-life parenthood, coupled with more women spending longer in education and training and their need to delay parenthood whilst they find secure accommodation and try to get on the housing ladder.
Louisa also discusses how at present, legislation is focused around being pregnant and then going on to have a baby. She explains that this is a problem for those accessing fertility treatment because there is a significant lead in time that is not catered for in law. Many employers do not have a workplace policy to support workers undergoing assisted reproductive technology or surrogacy. She goes on to explain that there has traditionally been a laissez-faire attitude towards fertility management and a lack of a joined-up approach and international governance and the reasons for this.
Leave a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.