Posted yesterday at 12:00 p.m.
Q. Professor Michael Orsini, of the University of Ottawa, and yourself have analyzed more than twenty documents published between 1993 and 2020. According to the dominant discourse, is this considered a problem, for a woman , to have a child in your late 30s or early 40s?
R. It is problematic, yes. We analyzed policy documents, government reports, and professional statements and guidelines referring to advanced maternal age, delayed childbearing, older mothers, infertility, and fertility. These texts report the higher biomedical risks associated with pregnancy and childbirth, and this idea that from the age of 35, women would be on the edge of a kind of precipice of infertility. But behind the discourse of risk also lie misconceptions, rooted in ageism and ableism, that present older mothers as problematic, for different reasons.
Which ones?
First, older women are at higher risk during pregnancy or childbirth, which could mean higher health care costs. It’s a valid reason. But we also saw discussions about the well-being of the offspring. In certain political documents, one felt a real concern, an anxiety even, with the idea that the mother could be perceived like the grandmother of her child. So there’s this idea that older mothers are putting their child at risk, not only from a medical point of view, but also because they don’t fit the stereotype of the good, young mother who is actively engaged and totally devoted to their children. Finally, there is also concern about the risk for these women of giving birth to children with disabilities. They are held responsible for ensuring that their children are not a burden on society.
The statistics do not lie: the rate of chromosomal abnormalities and complications during pregnancy and childbirth increases significantly with age. Should official documents ignore it?
Certainly not. We do not want to minimize these risks. They should be communicated to couples planning to have children. But this idea that the age of 35 is a magic number beyond which all women will run more risk is in my opinion problematic.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY
Francesca Scalla
Younger women may also have underlying health conditions that put them at risk. We must therefore be a little more careful and avoid generalizations.
Francesca Scalla
In the mainstream discourse, you sense that older women are held responsible for their infertility, first, but also for running a higher risk of bearing a child with a genetic abnormality. What are the consequences of this discourse for women?
This shifts a lot of responsibility onto women from an individual point of view, as if their decisions and behaviors were based solely on their preferences. However, we know very well that this is not the case. Our preferences and decisions about health, relationships and careers are shaped by broader social, economic and political forces, which are ignored in mainstream discourse. Women are told that before having children, they must have a stable relationship, financial resources and a career, but that takes time. When all the external conditions are met, they are often in their thirties and they may have difficulty conceiving. What is the role of the company, the government, the partner?
In emphasizing the downsides of older motherhood, are there things that aren’t said enough about it, blind spots?
There is a whole diversity of experiences, and we cannot make big statements, but we can see a reality: there are more and more women who are having children at an older age. Studies show there are benefits, including suggesting that older mothers are more patient and their children perform better in school. We could also highlight these positive aspects without denying the medical and health risks. And I think we should be especially concerned about offering support to women, ensuring that they have access to accessible child care and that they are not penalized in their careers or financially for having children earlier.
Responses have been edited for reasons of space.