No kidding, just get off Jennifer Aniston's back over babies Actress Jennifer Aniston faces constant questions about pregnancy. IT is a truth universally acknowledged that any successful woman is in need of a baby. Just ask actor Jennifer Aniston. According to the tabloid glossies, Aniston has spent most of the last decade pregnant, although there's still no sign of a bub. Speculation has reached fever pitch since she has been engaged to fellow actor Justin Theroux and any hint of a swelling tummy is enough to send the glossies into meltdown. Some mags have reported the (non-existent) pregnancy so many times they're now running out of ideas, suggesting Aniston is getting "Ready for twins," "Growing too fast to go down the aisle" and "Pregnant with Brad's help!" Even the upmarket Huffington Post has joined in, and a poll on their website asks readers to decide whether Aniston is "really pregnant this time" or has "just got pasta belly." At this stage Star magazine is going it alone by saying Aniston is "definitely not pregnant" although it called her a "pregnant bride" only three months ago and also had her up the duff last November. I know Aniston is a big star and so her personal life is fair game to some extent, but I think it's all just horrible. What if Aniston has been doing IVF for 15 years and is still getting nowhere? What if she really was pregnant with twins and lost them? What if she has had her ovaries removed for medical reasons, and so now can't get pregnant? Aniston is in her mid-40s now, so you might think some people would realise that the issue of fertility could be a little sensitive for her. Of course, joining the thoughtless throng is none other than Australia's own self-proclaimed "white trash royalty," Kyle and Jackie O. When they spoke to Aniston this week she was forced to clarify that "there's nothing to be announced," noting that any baby bump was "just a couple of pounds." But I don't understand why we are all so obsessed by whether Aniston and other women like her have children or not. I think it is sad there is so much pressure on women like Aniston to have children. And I think it's a pity that the more successful the woman, the stronger the pressure. This is a real problem, given that one quarter of Australian women will never be mothers. When you look at university-educated women, the number rises to about 43 per cent. Yes, the smarter a woman is, the less she seems to want to have children. Researchers from the London School of Economic have found that the maternal urge drops by 25 per cent with every 15 extra IQ points a woman has. It's a shame, then, that reproductive success is seen to trump all other achievements. The message seems to be that despite whatever career success a woman may have had, the real measure of her as a person is her ability to become a mother. We see it for high-profile women all the time, women like Kylie Minogue, Cameron Diaz and Aniston. It doesn't seem to matter how many great movies they've been in, or hit records they've had, it's all about the babies. It must be so tiring - and trying - for the multitude of women out there who, for a lot of different reasons, haven't had a baby, can't have a baby, or don't want a baby. It should be a personal matter for each woman individually - and no one else's business. But friends of mine who are nearing 40, and haven't had children, say they can't believe people will invariably ask why they aren't mothers. The sad truth is that sometimes there are no good answers. Some women just haven't met the right person to have kids with. Some haven't met anyone at all. Some have been too busy working to concentrate on relationships. Others have tried to have children but haven't got there yet, and others would have liked kids, but don't want to go down the IVF path. And others really just don't want children. Yes, believe me that there are smart, attractive, fun women out there who genuinely don't want to have kids and who cop it as a result. Surely those of us who have had families don't need others to validate our choices. Yet there doesn't seem to be a place in our society for the happily barren woman. Deliberately barren? Yes (ask former PM Julia Gillard). Unhappily barren? Yes (ask actor Mary Coustas). But happily barren? Most people just don't believe it. Of course, the happily barren man is another thing altogether (ask George Clooney). I'll know we have an equal society when Clooney is lampooned in the glossies for failing to become a father and made to seem like less of a man as a result. But it's not going to happen any time soon.