WHY does a woman have to know today whether she will want to become a mother tomorrow? Some women want children, some are unsure, and some may never want them at all. In Pakistan, where the biological clock is often accompanied by reminders of shaadi ki umar and warnings of future regret, egg freezing remains an uncomfortable idea.

Recently, US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez documented her egg-freezing procedure on social media. While many praised her openness, others criticised her for delaying motherhood. The discomfort is likely to be even greater in Pakistan, where marriage and motherhood remain deeply intertwined. A recent Dawn feature, ‘How to freeze your eggs in Pakistan’, shows that the procedure is available in Pakistan, alongside stigma and practical barriers. Rather than treating fertility-preserving technology as something to fear, we should ask what problem it is trying to solve. Several economic ideas help explain why freezing one’s eggs can be a rational response to uncertainty, without implying that every woman should do it, or even that every woman ultimately wants children.

‘Real options theory’, developed prominently by Avinash Dixit and Robert Pindyck in Investment Under Uncertainty (1994),........

© Dawn