Women, marriage, and motherhood : the impact of childlessness on married women’s identities

Abstract

Childlessness disrupts the heteronormative ideals of marriage and motherhood. This leads to childlessness becoming a potentially stigmatising status that can affect women’s identities and relationships. Using a social constructionism framework, my research aims to explore the meaning of marriage and motherhood, and the construction of gendered identity within the experiences of childless married women. In-depth interviews were conducted with 8 involuntarily childless and 4 voluntarily childless married women. The results from this study showed that the ideal of childbearing in marriage remains, but childless married women were able to redefine the boundaries of childbearing within their own marriages. The impact of childlessness on married women’s identities was found to be changing depending on gender roles and contexts. Furthermore, the social identity of motherhood continued to impact both involuntarily and voluntarily childless women. Finally, childless women were reflexive in understanding the stigma experienced.