Two childless best friends say they have been called "selfish" and made to feel guilty for not wanting children."

Erika Abdelatif, and Kristen Myers, both 37, met whilst studying theatre at Chapman University, California, US, in 2005.

Growing up both of the friends wanted children and it wasn't until they were in their late 20s and early 30s that they changed their minds.

Kristen said a big factor for her not to have children was the high cost of daycare and climate change anxieties.

Erika said she wanted to focus on her career and her role in the community, realising that if she had children she wouldn't have much time to dedicate to that.

The pair say there is a lot of social pressure for women to have children and want to combat the misconception that childless women are "selfish"."

Kristen, a product manager, from Portland, Oregon, said: "Both of us grew up wanting and thinking we would want kids."

"My decision not to have children came when I was 33 and I had just married my husband."

"I was deciding my next steps to have a child and I did some basic research."

"As soon as I started doing research, I was like 'oh my god, how does anyone afford this'."

"Other reasons that contributed were medical issues, being a present parent and climate change."

Erica, who works in social media, from Portland, Oregon, said: "I made the choice in my late 20s."

"I love kids personally and I always grew up thinking I wanted kids."

"But it becomes clear to me that there is a huge labor divide between genders that has gotten better but it is still pretty rough."

"For me, I have a lot of passions, I have a lot of drive for serving and benefitting my community and for me I realised time is a valuable commodity."

"I realise it wasn't such a passion for me to have kids and it made more sense for me to choose this route rather than motherhood."

Erika and Kristen say that the DINK lifestyle allows them to be flexible and have a better work-life balance because they don't have a child to look after.

Kristen said: "The child-free and DINK lifestyle allows for flexibility, like being able to pick up and go without having to plan what baby items I will take with me."

"It is the little things in terms of flexibility but the big things too, when my parents were having health issues we picked up and went."

"We have the flexibility where I can pick up and go for two weeks to help my parents - if I had a baby at home that would be a whole different story."

"We have the flexibility to live out lives different to the traditional life path."

"We're not necessarily tied to needing a house in a good neighbourhood with the good school systems and working until you're retired to like, help fund your kid's college."

They also say that there is a "financial benefit" to not having children but say there is a misconception that people without children have more money."

Kristen added: "Of course, there is a financial benefit to this, I'd be remiss if I didn't speak to the benefits of having a little bit more flexibility there."

"But, I think there's a misconception that because we're choosing not to have kids we are rich, or we have a ton more money."

"I think, especially in the millennial or Gen Z generation we are just less broke than those with kids."

During the election, Vice President-Elect, JD Vance caused controversy for calling Kamala Harris a "childless cat lady"."

Erica said that childless women are often spoken about in a shameful way and society benefits when women feel shameful for not having children.

She said: "Society at large knows they can benefit from making women feel guilty for not wanting to have children."

"There is an implied sense that it is something that women have to feel the burden of."

"We hear a lot from people that we are selfish or we are making this choice from a place of being heartless or selfish."

"I think we really need to shatter that understanding of what it means to be child-free because a lot of people are making the decision from a place of care."