Two of the most outdated words a pregnant woman over the age of 35 can hear? Geriatric pregnancy. Yes, geriatric…an adjective traditionally reserved for those seeking care over age 75, not a woman who just reached the legal age requirement to run for U.S. President. 

Just over 50 years ago, the average American woman had her first child at 21.4 years old. Since then, that number has steadily climbed, but for decades women were warned against waiting. "Geriatric pregnancy" became synonymous with risk. Today, while pregnancy after 35 does come with some increased risks, researchers are uncovering a more nuanced picture, including evidence that later motherhood may be linked to greater longevity. Fast forward to 2023, and the average first-time mother in America is 29.6 years old. According to the CDC, birth rates among women ages 40–44 have risen 127% since 1990, while births among women over 45 are up 450% (!!). Women are increasingly delaying motherhood in pursuit of education, careers, financial stability, and greater choice over when, and whether, they become mothers.

Despite what we've been told about gestational diabetes, miscarriage, and stillbirth, there are reasons later motherhood can also be associated with better health. Studies show that women who give birth later often have lower stress, better nutrition, greater financial security, and higher life satisfaction, all factors linked to lower cardiovascular risk, the leading cause of death for women. Which raises an obvious question: if pregnancy ages women, why do women who have children later often live longer?

Giving birth takes a huge toll on your body and mind. It temporarily ages the body by roughly two biological years. But childbirth appears to trigger something remarkable: studies suggest it can reduce biological age (the age of cells and organs through lifestyle, environment, and genetics) by as much as eight years. Researchers at the University of Helsinki found that women who had children between ages 24 and 38 experienced healthier aging, while Boston University researchers found that women who had their last child after age 33 were 2x likely to live to 95 than women whose last child was before age 30. And it gets even more astounding. Women who give birth after 40 are 4x as likely to live to 100 years or older (!!).

So…we still haven’t answered the big question: why? Perhaps later motherhood keeps women more physically, mentally, and socially engaged. Perhaps children provide support later in life. Perhaps pregnancy's hormonal changes influence long-term brain health. Or perhaps women who conceive later were already biologically healthier to begin with. To answer that question, researchers turned to something even smaller: our DNA.

Telomeres are protective caps at the ends of our chromosomes. Their length is one of the strongest markers of biological aging: the longer they are, the slower our cells tend to age. Researchers have found that women who give birth later in life tend to have longer telomeres. What they don't know is whether having children later helps preserve telomere length, or whether women with naturally longer telomeres, and therefore better underlying health, are simply more likely to have children later in life. 

OBGYN Dr. Noa Sterling believes the first explanation, that having children later may help preserve telomere length: “We know that the DNA from our children stays with us always, and we know that it can actually help our body repair itself." Dr. Thomas Perls, Director of the New England Centenarian Study, takes the counterpoint: “The natural ability to have a child at an older age likely indicates that a woman’s reproductive system is aging slowly, and therefore so is the rest of her body.” So, childbirth later in life may not increase a woman's longevity, it may simply be a sign that she was already biologically predisposed to live longer.

Like so much of women's health, we don't have definitive answers, largely because women have historically been underrepresented in clinical research. But one thing is clear: the conversation around later motherhood has been shaped far more by fear than by nuance. Instead of only focusing on the risks, we should also acknowledge the benefits for both mother and baby. And as science continues to catch up, the goal shouldn't be to tell women when to become mothers, but to ensure they're supported at every age and every stage.

The Female Quotient is heading to Miami as an official media partner of the inaugural Jupiter Festival, where the leaders shaping media, entertainment, sports, and the creator economy are coming together to build what’s next. Because the people who shape culture also shape what, and who, we see, celebrate, and believe is possible. Join us in Miami, October 6–9!

If you meet Cindy Eckert, she'll probably be wearing pink. That's no accident. The entrepreneur, investor, and women's health advocate has turned the color into a symbol of her fight for women, most notably through Addyi, the first and only FDA-approved treatment for hypoactive sexual desire disorder (low libido) in women, known as "the little pink pill."

In 2015, she sold her company, Sprout Pharmaceuticals, for a record-breaking $1 billion. She later fought to buy back the company. Why? To ensure that the drug was brought to market, properly supported, and women actually had access to it. She continues to break down barriers in women’s sexual health and fight for gender equity in healthcare. She also invests in the next generation of women entrepreneurs through The Pink Ceiling, backing companies founded by women and companies building products for women. For Cindy, pink isn't a color; it’s a statement.

What’s the worst career advice you’ve gotten?

Don’t wear pink. I can’t tell you how many times in my career that I’ve been told that people won’t take me seriously and that I should just wear “sensible black suits.” The subtext of that is to conform. If I had taken that advice, not only would I not have been showing up as my authentic self, but I would not be able to challenge the perception that pink, a color associated with women, is viewed as weak when it's actually strong. I am unapologetically pink.

What’s the best piece of non-obvious career advice you’ve gotten?

Trust the moment when your stomach drops. It’s usually when you're on the edge of something big, and it’s preceded every pivotal move I’ve made. As humans, we're conditioned to move away from that feeling, as it can mean danger. It makes people fearful to take that leap of faith, go toward an idea that isn't popular, do something for the first time, or express an unpopular opinion out loud. But I think that when your stomach drops, it actually represents opportunity. Throughout my career, when there's been an uncomfortable issue that everyone's run away from, that’s been my signal to run toward it.

What was a heartbeat moment for you in your career?

My heartbeat moment was at a medical conference where I saw brain scans of women with low libidos. The standard of care is to tell women struggling with this health concern to have a glass of wine, take a bath, and relax. That was being prescribed for a legitimate medical issue. But a bath isn’t gonna fix this.

At the time, I was running a successful men's sexual health company. The more I learned about the lack of options available to women, the more impossible it became to ignore. I sold my business and took on what many people told me was an unwinnable fight.

Addyi became the first FDA-approved treatment for women with low libido, but what we were really challenging was a much larger assumption: that women's sexual health isn't a priority. We encountered double standards at every turn, from the FDA to healthcare providers to the media, and we kept pushing anyway.

Who is one person you’d love to give flowers to from your career that influenced your journey? What advice or lesson did you learn from them?

I would give flowers to the spectacularly brilliant Josephine Torrente. She is an attorney who has been with me along this journey. She promised me that she wouldn't retire until we got the postmenopausal approval for our product. And now that we got it, it’s been very emotional for me as there's something so magical about having a fellow woman alongside you in a fight, working towards real change together. She taught me that you win with facts. She has a calmness and commitment to having conversations rooted in facts and notions. I’m grateful to have learned from her.

Where have you caused some good trouble in your career?

I took on the government for women's sexual pleasure, and I won. When we started, there were 26 FDA-approved drugs for men to lead more satisfying sexual lives, but zero for women. And that’s despite more women struggling with this issue. We’ve caused trouble by holding up a mirror to show society its bias.

Gaslighting is pervasive in medicine for women. It’s believed that women are rooted in emotion, and men in biology. Until healthcare providers take women seriously as biological beings when there’s a medical issue, we're never going to get beyond the “just relax and have a bubble bath” talk. Addyi is so much bigger than a medication alone. Sex is part of our overall health, and for women, it’s often overlooked because we think it's trivial. To keep moving the needle in women’s health, you have to move mountains while also raising awareness. Women need to know that something like this is available to them.

Want to nominate a leader you admire? You can do so here.

Savannah Llewellyn of The Female Quotient weighs in:

One of the biggest mistakes job candidates make is treating the interview like a one-way evaluation. It's not. You're interviewing the company just as much as they're interviewing you. The goal isn't simply to get an offer, it's to figure out whether you'll actually enjoy working there. A job description won't tell you much about a company's culture, but a few thoughtful questions can:

Ask these questions to multiple interviewers and compare their answers. Pay attention to how they answer, not just what they say. Good answers usually include examples, while red-flag answers tend to be vague or overly polished. An interview is often your first glimpse of what it will actually be like to work there, so trust your gut.

P.S. Got a burning career question? Serve it up here to Dear FQ to score advice from a powerhouse leader in our network.

We've all heard of the five love languages: words of affirmation, quality time, gifts, acts of service, and physical touch. But what if work had its own version? How do you most want to be recognized?

For most, the answer is unsurprisingly straightforward: money. Financial rewards consistently rank as the most meaningful form of recognition because they don't just say, "We appreciate you." They say, "We value your contribution enough to invest in it."

Right behind it? New opportunities. Nearly one in four employees say the greatest recognition is being trusted with a promotion, a stretch assignment, or greater responsibility. In other words, recognition isn't always about rewarding past performance, it's about signaling confidence in someone's future.

Here’s to following your own timeline ⏰

Xo,

The FQ

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