Childless women who shape history and culture are still judged on not being mothers

The women I return to most—Elizabeth I, her potential heir Arbella Stuart (and rival to James Charles Stuart, later King James I), Virginia Woolf, Katharine Hepburn, Debbie Harry—never had children. Their reasons were wildly different: some chose not to, some were prevented, and some never got the chance. The pattern raises two questions. Did their work or their position cost them their choice? And why does it seem to matter, overshadowing the legacies and achievements of great women?