You've nailed it, and I think far too few people are centering the conversation on this crucial point. When women say they are focused on their careers or can't afford children it sends chills down my spine. In the old adage, men work to be providers - for their wives, children, and society. So what are women working for?
I feel women have been lied to by veiled capitalists, told that a career and financial independence are the be all and end all of life. How dull! I worry we'll wake up 50 years from now with an incredible social schism based on extreme individualism and several generations of deeply sad, solipsistic regrets.
I can't imagine how impoverished my life would be without my partner and son, no matter how stellar my career. And yet that's what we ask young women to choose.