The lives of non-mothers: ‘I really wanted a life without children and I wanted to know why’
After splitting from her husband following his change of heart about not having children, Irish-based author Nicole Louie started seeking out child-free women to interview in a bid to understand her own decision better
Author Nicole Louie. Photo: Frank McGrath
Nicole Louie is more than aware of the enduring stereotypes of women without children: “The crazy cat lady, the sorrowful barren woman, the selfish child-free woman, the overambitious career woman… the pitiful spinster, the immature woman, the incomplete woman, the cold-hearted woman, the unnatural woman,” she writes in her debut book, Others Like Me: The Lives of Women Without Children.
“[There’s the assumption] that you have no say in that solo life — if you find someone in their 40s or 50s and they’re not married, people assume she couldn’t find someone,” Louie says, rolling her eyes at the laziness. People also assume if you’re a spinster and happen to have a cat, you’re a cat lady.
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