It seems that a woman still has to explain why she didn’t have children, as if something in her life were necessarily missing.
Kim Cattrall spoke about this topic in 2015 during an interview on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour. The Sex and the City actress explained that she was particularly bothered by the use of the English word childless to refer to women who are not mothers, because that less—”less”—seemed to suggest that they were worth less for not having had children.
In her case, she said that not becoming a biological mother was not necessarily a decision she made overnight. Her life and career progressed, she thought she might do it the following year or a few years later and, when she turned 40, she began to wonder how much she really wanted to do it.
But Kim also does not believe that not having children means she has never played a maternal role. She is very close to her nieces and nephews and for years has supported and advised young actors and actresses. That is why she has even said that, although she is not a biological mother, she does consider herself a parental figure.
To her, motherhood is not the only way to care for someone, be there for them, or leave a mark on someone’s life. And much less a measure for determining how complete a woman is.