Women Freeze Eggs Due To Male Shortage?

If half the world's population are male, then there would be about 3.5 billion males on the planet. However, taking into account geography, age, civil status and personal tastes, a glaring lack of "worthy" males are left on Earth.

This is the very reason women are freezing their eggs. Research suggest that career women, in particular, are doing so because of a shortage of what they deem are "worthy" male partners.

The Times noted that the study indicated increasing numbers of professional women choosing to freeze their eggs. However, it is not because they wanted to focus on their careers, as scientists previously believed. It is because there were simply fewer male partners available who can match the high standards set by educated and driven women.

There is also another underlying cause for this. The current gender trend sees women outnumbering the number of male college graduates.

Lead author Marcia Inhorn, a professor of anthropology at Yale, said, "There are not enough college graduates for them. In simple terms, this is about an oversupply of educated women." She also suggested that there should be more efforts made to educate men. Women, on the other hand, may also have to lower their standards.

According to BBC, Professor Adam Balen of the British Fertility Society said that he noticed a "big shift" in the U.K. society, where educated women are delaying starting a family. He noted that freezing eggs can be a painful and costly process and is not a decision to take lightly.

Professor Balen noted that women who chose to "bank" eggs until they are ready to start a family have to go through procedures and a regime of medications that pose potential risks for themselves. In the U.K., eggs can be frozen for up to 10 years and, in some circumstances, can even extend up to 55 years. However, the process is expensive and can cost several thousand pounds. Storing the eggs also add more costs to the process, while one cycle of an IVF treatment could cost up to £5,000 (approximately US$6,459) in the U.K. or more.