Actually, nobody does.
Yet, in discussions between friends and family, the statement “your clock is ticking” still comes up, when it comes to starting a family and having a successful career. What may sound like a joke actually reveals many biased notions that society at large has towards women.
The problem with “your clock is ticking”
This statement essentially means we have a ‘times up!’ moment, where at any point after that, our value as a woman decreases, which is not true at all. This ‘clock’, if we really think about it, represents our physical, biological self. More specifically, the high value placed on our looks and ability to reproduce by society. By saying ‘your clock is ticking’, we’re basically saying that we, as women, regardless of what our personal priorities and goals in life are, have the primary duty of looking good and being responsible for having children whether we want to or not.
Why women are (way) more than their bodies
We are more than physical bodies and tools to promote the continuity of mankind. There are women who see nurturing children and starting a family as their main priority in life and that’s perfectly fine too! Not all women have this preference though, and for those that place their work and career before all else, this gets on your nerves, fast. We are our hopes and dreams too, and like our unique ability to reproduce, no one else will be able to fulfil these dreams like we do ourselves.
How society continues to perpetuate and worsen this ideology
Feminism isn’t an easy fight for proponents. Other than battling and dealing with people stuck in traditional mindsets (parents, friends, relatives), we have to keep up with other expectations, such as having a successful career and having a work-life balance, or playing a part in taking care of our families. Subscribing to toxic lifestyle choices that our communities push forward, like overworking in hustle culture, despite having odds like these expectations of looking good while doing it and having children stacked up against us. In short, we have a ton of extra hurdles to cross in order to reach the same height of ‘success’ as our counterparts, so help us to knock down a few in our path by refraining from making such statements.