The article presents the results of theoretical and empirical study of the problem of postponing childbearing by women of childbearing age from 18 to 44 years in the Republic of Mordovia. The characteristics of the Russian specificity of delayed childbearing by women are given. The factors promoting this process, including those existing at the level of an individual woman, as well as the factors of support at the state level are revealed. The empirical material shows that, despite the fact that the policy of the state paying sufficient attention to the process of transformation in all spheres of society, aimed at increasing the demographic potential of the population, the majority of respondents consider themselves to be unprotected in the sphere of motherhood and childhood. In accordance with such attitude women try to postpone the birth of a child to a later time (on the average — to 35—39 years). The authors of the study took into account individual and personal characteristics of women in the areas of: financial assistance and support, career growth and self-realization, healthy lifestyle, mental health, medical care, legal protection, demographic processes. It was revealed that reproductive attitudes of women aged 26—35 years differ little from those of women aged 36—44 years. Additional measures of the state support promoting the solution of problems of “real” and “potential” mothers in the Republic of Mordovia are allocated. The authors evaluate the impact of the regional measures on the problem. In addition, as promising areas of family and demographic policy in the field of fertility, the following should be noted: a set of financial measures, including both ensuring a minimum standard of living for employees taking into account their marital status, labor adaptation of women in the decree, and a proportional increase in benefits for the second and subsequent child; strengthening measures of targeted support in the system of social protection of the family; protection of reproductive health of the population from adolescence; reorientation of measures of family and demographic policy of the country from the conceptual component to strategic planning. The recommendations aimed at the development of effective measures and the creation of effective conditions focused on the compromise interaction between women and the state, taking into account the reproductive interests of the female population and the needs of society in the reproduction of the population. Such measures can be effective if all public authorities work together in a comprehensive manner to provide adequate assistance to women of childbearing age.
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