It takes a great deal of courage and independence to decide to design your own image instead of the one that society rewards, but it gets easier as you go along. — Germaine Greer, The Female Eunuch
Worth is intrinsic. We are all born with worth; however, that worth is rarely reflected in how we are treated. Our exploitive cultural systems commodify us which for women shows up as the pronatal mandate. Commodification is automatically devaluing. Many of us continually work on feeling worthy to counteract the negative messaging and experiences we receive. Furthermore, our families may promote the idea that we have to be mothers/or fathers to have value and we may feel the sting of being devalued by our families if we are childless, by choice or not.
Is there a way to release ourselves from these expectations and enjoy life fully? In this webinar, Nothing To Prove, five wise panelists discuss how we navigate, counteract, and heal from the societal messaging that denies us our full worth.
DATE: Thursday 17th September
TIME: 4.30pm BST - Find your timezone HERE
REGISTER FOR THIS WEBINAR HERE
Please note: Whilst the panellists will be recorded, your camera and audio will be turned off. If you are unable to attend the webinar live, you DO NOT need to register to watch the replay. Just subscribe to the World Childless Week YouTube channel and you’ll be notified when new recordings are added.
PANELLISTS
Maria Hill - USA
World Childless Week Ambassador
Maria Hill is in her late-seventies. She is a World Childless Week Ambassador and a long-time member of the Gateway Women/Childless Collective
online community. She is the HSP thought leader and author of The Emerging Sensitive: A Guide For Finding Your Place In The World. She is a writer, coach, healer, and transformative thinker illuminating the connection between culture, identity and the self.
Jody Day - Ireland
World Childless Week Ambassador
Jody Day is the English/Irish founder of Gateway Women, a psychotherapist, the author of Living the Life Unexpected and a TEDx speaker with ‘The Lost
Tribe of Childless Women,’ having been watched 230K times. She was a founding and former board member at the UK charity Ageing Without Children, and has been a World Childless Week Ambassador since the beginning. Now in her sixties, her focus has turned towards ‘elderhood without motherhood’, which she explores on her Substack, Gateway Elderwomen. She lives in rural Ireland and is managed by a small cheeky terrier called Puffin.
Stephanie Joy Phillips - UK
World Childless Week Founder
Stephanie spent a large part of her twenties in an abusive relationship so took the contraceptive pill to prevent a child being born into that situation. In her
early thirties she met her husband to be but they didn't try to conceive until nearing forty. At the age of 39 she was told by an unsympathetic doctor "if he manages to get you pregnant it is highly unlikely you'll carry full term". She knew in that moment, she would never be a mum.
In 2016 Stephanie Joy Phillips founded Childless Path To Acceptance, and in 2017 after realising there was no national recognition of the childless community Stephanie had an idea for a global awareness week and six weeks later World Childless Week went live for the first time.
Stephanie lives in Worcestershire with her husband and two rescue cats, Storm and Tea-Cup. She enjoys gardening, arts and crafts, a good book, dining out and relaxing in front of the television with a puzzle book and one of her two cats snuggled up beside her.
Kate Kaufmann - USA
Kate Kaufmann International, award-winning author of Do You Have Kids? Life When the Answer is No, Kate Kaufmann advocates for better understanding of the childless/childfree demographic in person, on air, and
in print. A popular speaker, media guest, and conversation-starter, she has an MFA in creative writing and professional background in human resources and consulting. Outlets where her work has been featured include NBC, CBC Radio, Psychology Today, and the Washington Post.
Sarah Bradley - UK
Sarah Bradley Sarah Bradley, from Gloucestershire in the UK, describes her journey through childlessness as one of the toughest challenges she has faced. As a life coach, she supports childless women, men, and
couples to find a way through the loneliness and isolation of childlessness, to create a happy life without children. Sarah works with women who are single and childless in her SIN+CH coaching groups, where they challenge stereotypes, build self-confidence and encourage brave decision making. She is now writing a book about Moving Forward From Childlessness, which will include her experiences, her clients’ stories and coaching exercises.
