Reproductive waithood: An exploratory cohort study of changes in the transition to motherhood in Chile

Abstract

Waithood is a growing global phenomenon as more women are delaying childbearing and becoming mothers later in life. However, little is known about changes in the transition to motherhood beyond the Global North. Drawing on 40 life story interviews with four cohorts of women in Chile, this qualitative study explores how waithood is emerging as a social norm in connection to changes in the nature, timing, and sequence of motherhood amidst macro-structural transformations in recent decades. We find that waiting to have children is both intentional, as women prioritize education and work milestones, and unintentional, as women face multiple difficulties to become mothers in highly precarious and uncertain contexts. While reproductive waithood is associated to self-realization, increasing readiness for childbearing, and advantages for good mothering, it is also a coping strategy to navigate the transition to motherhood amidst excessive childrearing costs, economic instability, limited social protection, and material hardship. Our findings also suggest that while reproductive waithood is apparent among upper and middle class women, it is also emerging among lower class women as a strategy to avoid the negative effects of early pregnancy on their trajectories of social mobility, navigate the precarious conditions of the labor market, and secure a good upbringing for their children. Overall, these findings contribute to recent scholarship addressing waithood in family formation and delayed adulthood in the Global South.