Loved this book! In a society where, as Warrington says, ‘Motherhood is still upheld as every woman’s rightful, natural role, the path to her ultimate fulfilment,’ women without kids need not only non-mother role models but different ways of thinking about a childfree existence rather than ‘sad and childless’ or ‘selfish and deviant’.

In Women Without Kids, Warrington interrogates ideas around non-motherhood, including the 'childless women' vs 'childfree women' binary, that is, women who want children but can't have them and women who choose not to have them.

In reality, women without kids fit somewhere between these two extremes. And if we chose not to have kids? Our reasons behind opting out are different and incredibly nuanced as well.

Maybe we realised society isn’t set up for parents to flourish. Maybe our childhood was fucked and we’re reparenting ourselves. Maybe we’re environmentalists and don’t want to aid human consumption. Maybe we see caring for people who already exist as an imperative. Or maybe we just want to do other stuff.

Warrington unpacks all of these scenarios and more, delving into family dynamics, capitalism, the patriarchy, childhood trauma, privilege (racial, emotional, economic), pronatalism, and the climate crisis. And questions how these factors come into play when contemplating motherhood.

Women Without Kids is an empowering book that legitimises the path of non-motherhood and shows us that women without kids are revolutionary, doing integral work in dismantling accepted norms in gender, sexuality and family.

It urges us to throw away old ideas about what it means to be a woman and invites us to rewrite the script while coming together and celebrating the alternative lives we have chosen for ourselves.

I’m beyond grateful to Ruby Warrington for writing this book. It’s given me incredible insights into why I’ve been reluctant to become a mother and empowered me to shape the life that I want without feeling guilty that I’m not fulfilling the ideal role.