It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a married woman in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a baby. That the fairytale we all ought to be signing up to goes thus: get married, have a baby, live happily ever after. Or something to that effect, anyway, judging by the society’s presumptive comments about women’s reproductive statuses.

But what if a baby isn’t part of your plans? What if, when you glance at those two pink lines in your pregnancy test, you aren’t immediately filled with that profound sense of joy we’re told we definitely should be feeling? Well, then you’re wrong, apparently. Sorry.

So how do we resolve ourselves to the fact that more women than ever before are choosing not to have children, eh? How do we overcome this boringly restrictive narrative that fails to acknowledge the hopes and desires of all those who don’t see themselves as mothers? Who, for whatever reason, cannot and will not have children?

By speaking out against it, of course. Which is why it’s so refreshing that Margot Robbie – who married Tom Ackerley in 2016 – has shut down all those journalists who persist on asking her when she’s going to do her wifely duties and produce an heir already.

Drawing parallels with her character Elizabeth I in the new Mary Queen Of Scots film, Robbie told Radio Times magazine: “It made me really angry; how dare some old guy dictate what I can and can’t do when it comes to motherhood or my own body?

“Unfortunately, it’s a conversation we’re still having.”

She continued: “I got married (to film-maker Tom Ackerley, in 2016), and the first question in almost every interview is ‘Babies? When are you having one?’

“I’m so angry that there’s this social contract. You’re married, now have a baby. Don’t presume. I’ll do what I’m going to do.”

In 2014, Robbie founded her own production company, LuckyChap Entertainment, with a view to creating women-led films and television shows.

Since then, she has made it her business to tell more stories from a female perspective – and already has a Shakespearean drama series, a feminist retelling of Robin Hood in the works, and a TV drama set on Wall Street. Shattered Glass was sold to NBC in December 2017, and has been described by Variety as “an empowering post-feminist revenge fantasy” about “a trio of modern women who come together to shatter their respective glass ceilings”.

“I’m only really finding out the most fascinating things about history now that we have a production company,” said Robbie, explaining her vision.

“We’re finding these projects and I’m learning all these things. It’s like ‘So why is this not in the history books?’

“The things women did in the Second World War were incredible,” the I, Tonya star said.

“We have a TV project (in development) about female code-breakers who shaved two years off the war. Never heard of any of them.”

Image: Getty