Uganda, April 24 -- Sabrina Agasha, 35, journalist

The desire simply is not there

I did not grow up knowing I did not want children. For a long time, I assumed I would follow the script; marriage, children, the life that is quietly mapped out for women long before we even begin to question it. It was not until my mid to late 20s that I started to pause and really interrogate that script.

I remember being around 25 or 26 and asking myself a simple but unsettling question: Do I actually want this life, or have I just been told I should want it? Marriage, children, career milestones; everything that is considered a natural progression for a woman at that stage. I began to pull each of those expectations apart, one by one, and sit with the...