Busting the Myths Around Single Childfree Women of Color
Kimberly Martinez Phillips is among the handful of researchers who are studying this overlooked and growing demographic
Even before vice president-elect J.D. Vance made his famous “childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made” statement, many have considered single women to be sad, lonely, tragic, selfish and worthy of pity. And, women who choose to be childfree will “regret” their decision one day.
None of that is true, of course, but the stigma and judgment persist.
Most of the portrayals of single childfree women, from The Mary Tyler Moore Show, to the Bridget Jones movies, to the characters in Sex and the City and Girls feature White women. What about single childfree women of color?
That’s what Kimberly Martinez Phillips, a doctoral candidate at Memorial University in Newfoundland and Labrador, set out to find. As a a single childfree women of color herself, she was curious about how other women like her were shaping their lives. Her dissertation research includes interviews with 40 women of color between the ages of 36 and 61, with the vast majority in their 40s. While they may not experience more societal judgment and stigma than single…
