Speaking to The Guardian, Head of Policy at the Fawcett Society, Jemima Olchawaski, says that younger mothers are seen to suffer more in their careers:

“We also know that the motherhood penalty in terms of pay is greatest, again, for women who have their children under 33. So it might be that women are realistically assessing that having a child younger is more likely to have a detrimental impact on their experiences at work and so delaying it for those reasons.”

The British Pregnancy Advisory service says that the “older” motherhood trend is not going anywhere any time soon, and that it’s time for society to stop preaching about the dangers and adapt to work with it:

“Rather than bemoaning this development, we should seek to understand and support the decisions women make. More affordable childcare and improved maternity rights may make it easier for some women to start their families earlier if they wish, but we also need to ensure we have high quality reproductive healthcare services configured to meet women's needs, whatever the age at which they conceive.”

Women over 40 are having more babies than those under 20 for the first time since WWII