Womanhood without motherhood : a critical discursive analysis of how older, childfree women navigate stigma through talk : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University of New Zealand
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Date
2024
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Massey University
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Abstract
Voluntary childlessness is relatively common in Westernised contexts but remains stigmatised, especially for women, owing to dominant gendered discourses shaping reproductive norms. In Aotearoa, New Zealand research on voluntary childlessness is scarce, with only several published studies. Globally, research tends to reinforce dominant constructions of voluntary childlessness as abnormal and deviant by focusing on explaining voluntary childlessness (who makes the decision not to parent and why) and the presumed negative consequences, mostly among women of ‘childbearing age’. Research that does consider older women often focuses on potential negative outcomes in later life, echoing common assumptions that childfree women will be sad, lonely, and regretful as they age. Very little research investigates older, voluntarily childless women’s experiences from their own perspectives, and there is no local research to date. Therefore, my research focuses on older, voluntarily childless women living in Aotearoa, New Zealand. Using a feminist poststructuralist lens, under the broad umbrella of reproductive justice, I explore how older women navigate dominant gendered discourses, and how they use discourses to resist stigma associated with their decision not to have children and construct a positive identity. I analysed the interview data generated in interviews with 14 women between the ages of 50 and 71 who identify as childfree from across Aotearoa, New Zealand using critical discursive psychology, applying the principles of reproductive justice and feminist poststructuralism to make sense of my participants’ talk, and what they achieved using the discursive strategies. Four main themes were identified in my analysis, with the first two taking a non-confrontational approach and the final two taking a more critical approach to resisting mandated motherhood, namely: 1. Child-freedom as an equally valid alternative to motherhood, 2. “It’s no big deal”: Minimising and normalising being childfree, 3. Regret-free: Resisting a deficit identity, and 4. “Motherhood is optional, obviously”: Resisting the ‘motherhood mandate’ through liberatory discourses. My research findings show that these women often drew on dominant discourses of essentialism and diversity to construct motherhood and non-motherhood as equally valid options for women. However, they also adopted progressive discourses to problematise motherhood as women’s only source of happiness. While these discursive strategies sometimes contradict each other, the overarching sentiment is that women should be able to occupy the subject position of mother or non-mother without stigma. Accordingly, I argue that by resisting gender essentialist and pronatalist discourse, these women can construct positive, childfree identities and multiple possible subjectivities that constitute womanhood.