World Childless Week Archives

[Watch now] ‘Challenging the Lazy Stereotypes of Childless Women in Fiction and Films’. A free World Childless Week webinar: Thursday 14 September 2023, 7pm BST

August 14, 2023 Jody Day 1

This special World Childless Week webinar, ‘Challenging the Lazy Stereotypes of Childless Women in Fiction and Film’ was filmed live on Thursday 14th September as part of the ‘Childless in the Media’ themed day of World Childless Week 2023. From fairy tales through to modern fiction, childless women are often portrayed as damaged, deranged and deviant. Whether it’s Snow White’s evil stepmother, the psychopathic puppy-killer Cruella de Vil, Glenn Close’s bunny boiler in ‘Fatal Attraction’ or the unreliable and half-cut narrator of ‘Girl on a Train’, we never seem to come out well! Unconsciously, it seems writers default to using women […]

[WATCH NOW] ‘You’re so Lucky to Not Have Kids! — Does that include when we are old?’ A Special Fireside Wisdom session for World Childless Week 2023

August 14, 2023 Jody Day 0

The NomoCrones (nomo = not-mother = crone is not an insult!) gathered around the Zoom cauldron for a special ‘Fireside Wisdom with Childless Elderwomen’ session for World Childless Week on Friday 15th September. Our discussion was framed around the World Childless Week theme for Friday 15th September which was ‘Words That Hurt: You’re So Lucky to Not Have Kids”. We explored whether the perceived ‘luck’ in that bingo (throwaway statement) holds true for those of us ageing without children too… It was, as ever, a lively and frank discussion which did not shy away from the challenges of aging/ageing without children […]

WATCH NOW: Fireside Wisdom with Childless Elderwomen. What does it mean to be a ‘Radical Old Woman?’ [Recorded 21 June 2023]

June 22, 2023 Jody Day 0

Sign up to Jody’s mailing list for future sessions here. CAPTIONS ARE AUTO-GENERATED AND NOT ALWAYS ACCURATE! In this session of ‘Fireside Wisdom with Childless Elderwomen’, Jody Day (founder of Gateway Women) and her #NomoCrone panel (Nomo=not mother + crone is not an insult!) discuss what it means to each of us to be and become ‘Radical Old Women’. What does the word radical actually mean? Recorded on the June 2023 Solstice; a powerful fulcrum moment in the year, whether you are in the Northern or Southern hemisphere, this was a conversation by turns powerful, tender, shocking and surprising. Featuring: […]

[Watch recording] Letters to Our Younger Selves with the #NomoCrones for World Childless Week 2022

August 18, 2022 Jody Day 0

If you could write a letter and post it back in time to your younger self, what would it say? On September 14, the #NomoCrones gathered around the Zoom-fire to share their letters and reflections on the “Letter to our Younger Selves” theme of this day for World Childless Week 2022. Whether you were with us live, or weren’t able to make it, or just would like to watch it again, please click the video link above or this link to watch. Thank you to each of the fabulous #NomoCrones for taking part and for sharing their amazing letters with […]

Jody Day interviewed by Dr Karin on her ‘Love and Life’ Podcast: ‘When You’re Not a Mother, But Wanted to Be’ [Audio & Full Transcript]

September 16, 2021 Jody Day 0

[September 2021] Jody Day, the founder of Gateway Women is here interviewed by Dr. Karin Anderson Abrell for her ‘Love & Life’ Podcast. Karin is the author of ‘Single is the New Black: Don’t Wear White ‘Till It’s Right‘ and her work mainly focuses on the experience of women who are single not by choice. Karin herself is a childless stepmother. In this conversation, as well as discussing World Childless Week 2021, we explore how one of the unintended consequences of second-wave feminism has been an increase in circumstantial childlessness and my frustration that involuntary childlessness is a topic absent […]

World Childless Week 2021: Free Fireside Wisdom Webinar with the #NomoCrones: ‘Leaving a Legacy’. [Recording now available]

August 18, 2021 Jody Day 0

RECORED ON WEDNESDAY 15TH SEPTEMBER 2021, 8PM UK TIME: CLICK HERE TO HEAR ABOUT FUTURE SESSIONS! Since we first came together for World Childless Week in 2021, the #NomoCrones (nomo = not-mother and crone is not an insult!) have been meeting each solstice and equinox for a series of informal online zoom gatherings called ‘Fireside Wisdom with Childless Elderwomen‘. And we got the band back together again, with an even BIGGER lineup of amazing childless elderwomen World Childless Week 2021 to discuss the often tricky issue of ‘Leaving a Legacy’ as a childless person, as part of a whole day […]

[WATCH NOW] World Childless Week 2021 Free Masterclass: Childlessness & Sexual Intimacy

August 9, 2021 Jody Day 0

RECORDED ON TUESDAY 14TH SEPTEMBER 2021, 7PM UK TIME FOR WORLD CHIDLESS WEEK 2021 Since we hosted the Gateway Women Masterclass on Childlessness & Sexual Intimacy in May 2021, it’s proven to be one of our most popular and most watched discussions. It was an incredible experience for us to Host and for the Panellists to take part in too. So, when the discussions about this year’s World Childless Week ‘themes’ came up, we suggested that this should be one of them and it is. Tuesday 14th September 2021 is ‘Childlessness & Sexual Intimacy’ Day for World Childless Week. This […]

Celebrating the highs and the lows of 10 years of Gateway Women with The Full Stop Podcast [April 2021]

April 10, 2021 Jody Day 0

For Gateway Women’s 10th Anniversary in April 2021, I was thrilled to be interviewed by Berenice, Sarah and Michael of The Full Stop Podcast on what those ten years have been like, what has changed for me, and for the childless community in that time, and what my hopes and dreams are for the next decade. This is a very honest episode in which I reflect on some of the behind-the-scenes challenges of creating Gateway Women, and why turning it into a financially and culturally sustainable organisation that will outlast me is so important to me. You can find the […]

World Childless Week 2020 Starts Tomorrow, Monday 14 September

September 13, 2020 Jody Day 3

It starts tomorrow – 2020’s World Childless Week! When I first started writing about childlessness on my blog back in 2011 I really found very little on the internet about involuntary childlessness apart from a few wonderful life-after-infertility blogs such as Silent Sorority, Life Without Baby and The Road Less Travelled. However, as fertility treatments hadn’t been part of my story, I didn’t immediately find them. And there certainly didn’t seem to be anything out there that spoke to the diversity of ways a woman could find herself childless. So, when I wrote that very first blog and women from around the world left comments such as “How […]

“We are Warriors”: a Father’s Day Message to Childless Men from Michael Hughes

June 19, 2020 Jody Day 2

BELOW IS A TRANSCRIPT OF MICHAEL’S WORDS. MORE RESOURCES BOTTOM OF PAGE. “That was a bit dramatic, wasn’t it? But hopefully, it’ll all make sense by the time I’m finished.” “My name is Michael Hughes and I’m one-half of a childless couple and one-third of a podcast supporting the Childless Not By Choice (CNBC) community with Berenice Smith from Walk In Our Shoes and Sarah Lawrence from After The Storm. And it’s called TheFullStopPod.com Look out for us. We’re quite proud of what we’ve achieved.” “When Jody asked me if I would like to contribute to Father’s Day this year […]

World Childless Week 2019 starts tomorrow – here are 40 free on/offline things you can join in with!

September 15, 2019 Jody Day 0

As you may already know, I’m a World Childless Week ‘Champion’ which means I support the campaign and do I all can behind the scenes to make it a success. And it’s that time of year again (no, not that time of the year!) – the 3rd World Childless Week is next week and there are so many wonderful free events happening on/offline around the world for you to take part in. If some of the links to things on the Gateway Women website are slow to be open, please be patient, they will open – we’re upgrading our server […]

Women without children in the workplace: a hidden and growing diversity issue

September 22, 2018 Jody Day 14

After issues with unempathetic friends and family, workplace issues are the next biggest issue that seem to create problems in the life of childless (and childfree) women. This anonymous guest blog (below) was written by a member of the Gateway Women Online Community during World Childless Week and she shared it with her whole organisation by email. It was well received and thus I wanted to share it with you. Here is an excellent example of an organizational Diversity Policy which includes childlessness, from Bristol University in the UK. It was suggested and created by a Gateway Women member (Dr Lindsay […]

World Childless Week 2018: 10-16th September – sign up for my free webinar

August 19, 2018 Jody Day 0

The 2nd World Childless Week is happening from 10-16th September 2018 and I’m proud to be a World Childless Week Champion. World Childless Week was started by a British woman, Stephanie Phillips, in 2017 and, like so many grassroots initiatives, was born of personal experience and frustration – in Steph’s case that that our stories were missing from National Infertility Awareness Week (which tends to gravitate towards ‘miracle baby stories’), and that for those of us childless for any of the many other reasons, there was no awareness at all. Steph was already involved in administering and creating Facebook groups […]