Last month, the actress Maggie Gyllenhaal provoked outcries among feminists when she revealed that a Hollywood producer told her while casting for a film that at 37, she was too old to play the love interest of the male lead, who was 55.
The incident was presented as evidence that Hollywood was still helmed by a retrograde, discriminatory establishment, out of touch with the era in which Hillary Clinton, 67, has the potential to become the most powerful person in the world — U.S. president — by the end of next year.
But even as glass ceilings are shattered and wage gaps close, one kind of gender inequality—which bears a striking resemblance to the age disparity found in Hollywood, with its pairing of older men and younger women —refuses to budge: the fecundity gap.
As more and more women delay childbirth in their climb up the corporate ladder, many come to regret waiting too long, producing stories of failed IVF treatments, mounting debt, and an empty cradle.
Not only does fertility sharply decline as a woman enters her mid-30’s, the likelihood of birth defects — most notably down syndrome — shoots up. An infant born to a 35-year-old mother has a 1 in 100 chance of having down syndrome; that figure becomes 1 in 30 for 45-year-old mothers.
