Gateway Women Newsletter
Edition: July 2025
For 14 years, I’ve been writing a monthly email newsletter to at least 15,000 childless-not-by-choice women around the world. In July 2025, I began publishing it as a ‘section’ on my ‘Gateway Elderwomen’ Substack too, as part of a gradual streamlining of my writing output over the course of this year. So apologies if you're reading some of this info twice today — that’ll be because you’re also on my ‘old-school’ email list!
How to manage what emails you receive from me, via Substack.
Go to https://jodyday.substack.com/account and toggle the slider on/off to receive JUST my Gateway Elderwomen essays, or to also include/exclude my monthly Gateway Women newsletter (which features events and news of interest to childless women of all ages, but it may just be one email too many from me!)
Quick & Useful Links:
Read my new Gateway Elderwomen essay, Returning to the Bone Cave and/or take advantage of my 50% off an annual subscription offer for my birthday month of July -- only for readers here.
July's Gateway Women Masterclass: ‘Single, Childless, Feminist: a discussion of Fabiana Formica’s ‘Childless’ with
and has a CHANGED date to Sunday 13th July, 7pm BST (live & recorded). If you've already registered, no need to do anything except update your diary. Free, live & recorded: click here to register.Four Gateway Women Reignite Weekends remaining open for booking this year: Online (September); London UK, In-Person (October); Brisbane Australia, In-Person (November); London UK, In-Person (November). All info & booking links here.
Two new childless therapists added to the Gateway Women global listings page; Jordana Krueger-Toscher (USA), and our first in Argentina, Laura Bignasco.
Two book reviews for you:
by Olivia Sprinkel and Byddi Lee's novel, ‘Barren’. My full reviews here.Topics have been announced for World Childless Week 2025, and submissions are now open - the deadline is 24th August. Lots of other ways to get involved too—see more below.
July's theme in the Childless Collective online community is a gorgeous one - ‘Catching Glimmers’. Find out more, join/access here.
Cultivate & Flourish - a new 12-week coaching program from Katy Seppi (Childless Collective) and Tanya Hubbard (childless therapist). More info here.
Participants needed for a study on the psychological impact of infertility among Black women in the UK. Contact Helen George, a childless psychotherapist herself, at 2114413@chester.ac.uk.
Belonging - a systemic constellations weekend in Scotland this Samhain/Halloween, co-hosted by Liane Maitland & Andrea Langlois. Just gorgeous. More here.
Watch the barnstormer of a webinar we recorded last weekend for Fireside Wisdom with Childless Elderwomen on ‘Life After Menopause - Yes, it Does Exist!’ Watch here.
StoryhouseCHILDLESS is back again this September 12-14th in Chester UK. I'm not taking part this year (having a breather after 5 years!), and the lineup looks powerful. Great value, great venue, great company.
My 61st Birthday Gift
As July is my 61st birthday month, here's a special link just for you for 50% off a paid subscription to my Gateway Elderwomen Substack. Recently, I was (briefly!) #2 in the ‘Rising’ leaderboard for ‘Climate & Environment’ on Substack, so it seems my message about the need for community in these times of unravelling is striking a chord with many. If you are able to take out a paid subscription (or already have done so), thank you so very much - it really helps to boost the visibility of my work to a wider audience - and goodness, the challenges of Elderhood without Motherhood is a topic that absolutely needs to be more widely understood! You can read my most recent essay (for free) here about how illness is teaching me (yet more!) soul lessons.
Change of date for ‘Single, Childless, Feminist’ webinar
Unfortunately, as I have to attend the funeral for a sadly unexpected death this month, I've had to move the date of our Fabiana Formica and YL Wolfe webinar to SUNDAY 13th July. If you've already registered, you don't need to do so again. In these increasingly Gileadesque times, deconstructing the toxic pronatalist narratives around both singleness and childlessness feel increasingly important. Click here for more info and to register. And if you're new to YL Wolfe's writing, do check out and subscribe to her Substack On the Outside - she's the finest essayist I know on midlife singleness and childlessness, and yet she receives almost no paid support. Please feed the writers! (And if it's a choice between my Substack and hers, please support YL Wolfe!
Submissions are open for World Childless Week 2025 this September: deadline—Sunday 24th August
For the eighth year, I'm proud to continue as a World Childless Week Ambassador, and the Daily Topics for 2025 have now been announced. World Childless Week is created from real-life stories: how we became childless, the words and situations that hurt, the grief we have faced, rediscovering our worth and celebrating new joys. It’s a week where we express ourselves in our own way, be that through the written word, art, creativity, song, dance or more. It’s a week to say, here I am, see me. You can find all the topics here, and find the page to submit your entry here. You do not need to be a professional anything to take part in WCW; every childless voice and every childless experience matters. Submissions can be credited or completely anonymous, as suits your needs. I'll be hosting two different webinars over the week—more news on that nearer the time.
Other ways to get involved with World Childless Week:
Host a webinar on a daily topic and talk about what matters to you
Nominate your people's champion and let everyone see how they have made a difference
Send a press release to your local radio station or newspaper, and let the world see what we are doing
Spread the word and update your social media or pin up a poster at work, your local medical practice, community centre or library
Speak to your employer and ask them to include World Childless Week on their calendar
Contact your local library and ask them to create a display for World Childless Week
I look forward, as always, to your thoughts. You can leave a comment below, send me a private message here on Substack or email me directly at jody@gateway-women.com. And if you'd like to send me a cup of coffee for my birthday, it's always welcome and helps me to keep making so many resources free of charge.
Quick reminder - by default, in addition to any ‘Gateway Elderwomen’ essays, you will now also receive these ‘Gateway Women’ updates once a month. To turn them off go to https://jodyday.substack.com/account and toggle the slider on/off to receive JUST my Gateway Elderwomen essays, or to also include/exclude my monthly Gateway Women newsletter (which features events and news of interest to childless women of all ages, but may just be one email too many from me!) I’m sorry to make you do this, but it seems there’s no other way!
Thank you for being one of my readers; I appreciate you very much! If you’d like to support my work, you can do so by:
‘Hearting’ this post so that others are encouraged to read it (and the Substack algorithm shares it more widely);
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Thank you Jody for your thoughtful and generous review!