Without being a mother, women can have a close relationship with the family! Many families do not have children, global fertility is low, and the modern woman redefines the role of the family: Professional Aunt No Kids (PANK).
New York, NY (Merxwire) – The world is facing the impact of aging and declining birthrate. According to The World Factbook published by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), among 227 countries or regions, the top five with the highest total fertility rate are all in Africa, with an average of 5.57 to 6.91 children per woman. The last five are in Asia, namely Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan. In Taiwan, each woman has an average of 1.07 children.
Low fertility rates are also seen in the US and the UK. In 2018, more than 14% of women ages 40 to 44 in the United States were childless. In the UK in 2019, 49% of 30-year-old women were childless.
As more and more families do not have children, the role of modern women in the family has been re-examined, and being an aunt can also become a role that assists parents in raising children. What is PANK? The word appeared about 10 years ago; PANK stands for Professional Aunt No Kids, PANKs is a new group of women who love children, and its appearance means that modern women redefine family roles.
Features of PANK:
1. Working women without children
2. High full-time employment rate
3. Share information enthusiastically
4. Willingness to spend money on children
5. Parents who are willing to support their children
6. Enjoy life and socialize
PANKs are a large group of young working women with disposable income. Merchants discovered long ago that many aunties are willing to spend money to buy goods for their nephews/nieces, whether a gift on an ordinary day or a holiday. They are smart consumers and powerful women who can provide care and resources for their children and are often loved by them.
The emergence of the term PANK also represents the rising number of working women without children. As more women focus on their careers and delay their plans to have children, the phenomenon of “PANK” in society is even more pronounced.
Are there any “aunts who don’t have their children” by your side? Almost everyone has such an aunt in their family, and in many stories, there are also aunts who have no children, and these aunts are positioned as the second choice after the mother. Aunt May, who raised Spider-Man, is an example.
Why are contemporary women willing to become the family role of PANK? It may be that society’s expectations for mothers have taken shape, but there is no script for the role of auntie. When a woman plays the role of an aunt, there is no script to follow, no strict boundaries, but it can still provide care to the children in the family and maintain a relationship with the next generation.
Sociologists Vanessa May at the University of Manchester, and Kinneret Lahad at the University of Tel Aviv, say this also means the role aunts play in society and families has generally been overlooked in academic research.
People often only pay attention to the status of fathers and mothers in the family. Still, as more and more contemporary women do not have children, the term PANK has become more popular. People should think about the value of the role of aunts, including their contribution to the family and the benefits they bring to society.