Expert Opinion - Our biological and professional clocks are ticking in the opposite directions – can we stop it?

It is estimated that infertility affects 10 to 15% of our Indian population. This figure is on the rise in urban India due to the addition of a large number of women who have difficulty conceiving due to the trend of delayed child bearing. Women are now concentrating more on their careers due to a paradigm shift in the mindset of our society and women empowerment. Starting a family and having a baby has taken a back seat - ‘voluntary infertility’. But we must remember that nature is biased against women since they have a rapid reduction in their ovarian reserve after the age of 32 unlike their male counterparts. Ovarian reserve is defined as the quantity and quality of eggs present in a women at a particular time. A newborn baby girl is born with a finite number of eggs in her ovaries around a million at the time of birth. At the time of puberty, 3 lakh eggs remain out of which only 400-450 ovulate, and the other thousands degenerate. As the woman’s age advances, there is a rapid decline in not only the number of eggs, but also the quality. The exact reason why this happens is still a mystery, however, it is how human biology is and we can do little to stop it. In fact, various studies have shown that the ovaries of Indian women age six years faster than their Caucasian counterparts - implicating we Indian women need to be even more careful.
Mrs X working at an MNC in Chandigarh has reached a peak in her career at the age of 36 years but is now struggling to conceive, visiting multiple infertility clinics and has spent lakhs of rupees to get pregnant. She isn’t the only one. There are a growing number of women who postpone childbearing due to either delayed marriage, career preferences or a desire to be financially independent before starting a family. Some women even want to postpone childbearing till their late thirties and forties after settling down in their professions.
However, the biological and professional clocks in women seem to be working in the opposite directions. They are thus faced with the predicament of having to choose either their career or motherhood.
With the advancements in modern technology, it is now possible to cryopreserve/freeze the eggs(female gametes) or embryos (if she has a male partner)of a woman when she is younger and healthier. In fact, some corporates like Apple and Facebook are willing to pay for egg freezing for their female employees to ensure that women don’t compromise on their careers and financial independence. This technology can help our educated, independent, career-minded “New Woman”, who defers marriage or childbearing till she feels she is ready helping them to fulfill the social norms and expectations that construe motherhood as a central aspect of womanhood. Women have to “have it all”. Science is thus helping women to temporarily suspend the ticking of their biological clocks and achieving greater professional heights.