Issues&ideas Millennials: | cant commit Families, schools, jobs: So many options, why not take your time? Me first, kids maybe Instead of building families, young women are working to build themselves m= By NICK VALKA ising costs of living, paired with more potential career opportunities, are just two of the reasons why millennial women are choosing to delay the birth of their first child. According to Statistics Canada, women aged 30 to 34 account for nearly 30 per cent of first-born births, which is up about 10 per cent from the last decade. Simul- taneously, the first-born birth rate of women aged 20 to 24 decreased from nearly 26 per cent to 18 per cent. Barbara Mitchell, a sociology professor at SFU who specializes in the social and demographic as- pects of family, believes that young women are choosing to invest in their careers and schooling rather than starting families. “Young peo- ple are growing in very differ- ent social and economic times than previous generations,” Mitchell © said. “It’s very ex- pensive to have children, espe- cially if you're living in a major urban area like Metro Vancouver. It’s not that sur- prising that we're seeing these aver- ages go up all the time.” Sohnia Mutter is a 24-year-old Vancouverite who doesnt want children and instead has her eyes solely focused on furthering her career. “The social pressure to have children is based off of traditional views,” Mutter said. “Our gen- eration carries more debt on our shoulders, making having a family simply unaffordable.” Marlo Muscutt, owner of Bunky Bambino, has been a practicing doula for over 15 years and the bulk of her clients are over 35, with one of her clients last year being 47 when having her first-born. As a doula, Muscutt assists women from prenatal to postnatal, providing support and assistance. She feels that priorities have shifted from previous generations, finding that many women find it more impor- tant to be financially secure, own a home and have double incomes before considering having children. Medical advancements also now allow women to bear children at an older age. “Women now have the option of fertility treatments,” Muscutt said. “I think because they know that they don’t worry so much about the biological clocks that everyone talks about.” Marlo Muscutt DOULA, OWNER OF BUNKY BAMBINO It's not that they cant commit, = By PERRIN GRAUER he idea that millennials are commitment-pho- bic is all too familiar to some — Langara College students. Editori- als regularly grumble about millennial inde- “Times are changing so drastically now. I don't think it's fair EDITOR SASHA ZEIDLER | “From my parents, from my bosses... any authority figure I have some sort of communication rela- tionship with,” Morrison said, add- ing he feels the characterization is — unfair. “T feel like our definition of commitment is different from their definition of commitment. cisiveness, citing 1 The context is data that shows to put expectations different now.” the generation on upcoming Eric M. Mey- is waiting longer . ers, assistant to get married, generations that professor in the to move out and eschewing home and car owner- ship more often than previous ‘— generations. But millennials, char- acterized as those born between the late 1980s and up to the early 2000s, say this stereotype overlooks the influence of a chang- ing socioeconomic fabric. Langara Peace and Conflict Stud- ies student Eric © Morrison, 23, said he hears about his generations lack of commitment constantly. Times are changing, forcing Millen- nials to rethink the 'normal' path. ANA ROSE WALKEY applied to yours.” — THEO METZMEIER, 23, ENGINEERING STUDENT faculty of arts at UBC, stud- ies the informa- tion practices of — young people. Meyers said that as the world grows more com- plex, people natu- rally take y longer to ¢ : make big |. deci- THURSDAY, NOV. 23 sions. “We want to keep all of our op- tions on the table as long as pos- sible. And in times of uncertainty, that effect seems to be magnified,” Meyers said. “I think that there's a certain amount of freedom that social mobility, technology, and changing social norms provides that allows us to have different ex- pectations.” Langara engineering student Louis Causing, 20, said he bridles at the expectations of his parents’ generation. “I feel like it's not fair, to be honest. Because it makes you feel pressure. Pressure to make you do things you're uncomfortable with,” Causing said. “You're still explor- ing, but then they force you to take this [path], and you're like no, I don't want it.” Theo Metzmeier, 23, who stud- ies engineering at Langara, said a surplus of choices can be a mixed blessing, but judg- - ments: on , 2017 | THE VOICE 7 Mom, this isnt a phase it's that their world is different CANADIAN MILLENNIALS WHAT THEY'RE REALLY LIKE »Life is expensive Less than half of Canadian millen- nials can afford the life they want. » Degree doubt More than half of millennials would choose a different degree. >» Work and play What millennials want most out of their career is a balance between work and personal life. SOURCE: ENVIRONICSRESEARCH. COM how his generation makes its choices need to be put to rest. “Times are changing so drasti- cally right now,” Metzmeier said. “T don't think it's fair to put ex- pectations on upcoming genera- tions that applied to yours.” ... but what if | did that instead? Fear of failure is stopping students from choosing jobs = By ANA ROSE WALKEY illennials are experienc- ing increased difficulty in committing themselves to a career path due to fear of failure and unobtainable societal standards according to teachers, counsellors and millennials themselves. An analysis done by LinkedIn in 2016 showed the number of differ- ent jobs millennials are holding in the five years after graduating post- secondary has nearly doubled in the past twenty years, with the average now being 2.85 jobs. Sharon Tanabe, grade nine coun- selor and head of the counseling department at Magee Secondary School, said she sees a fear of fail- ure in her students. “Sometimes kids are scared to go to class because they're scared that they're not going to perform, they're not going to get the mark,” Tanabe said. “They don't get the mark they're not going to get into university, they don't get into uni- versity, they're not going to get a good job.” Sylvia Fuller, associate profes- sor of sociology at UBC with a focus on work and labour, said that societal structures are likely causing career related stress for millennials. Fuller said she sees those doing well in the labour market obtaining more of the re- wards while people in the middle or lower class are struggling. “This idea that you could go and get an un- dergradu- ate degree and that that would be a ticket to a middle-class lifestyle is increasingly problematic for students,” she said. Donna Mae Malinay, a first-year kinesiology student at Langara College, started off in forestry at UBC after high school, where she experienced stress when thinking of the high entrance mark needed to be accepted into the program. “I originally wanted to be in kinesiology, however I did not get accepted, so I decided to accept the opportunity to the forestry program, my second choice,” Malinay said. “I learned very early that forestry was not for me and still had my heart on learning anything kinesiology” Malinay is happy studying ki- nesiology at Langara, but still unsure about what job she will get after her program. “I'm not sure what I want to do exactly or what is available to later on,” she said.