‘Are You a Real Woman?’: Stigma and the Childfree Indian Woman

Abstract

India, a highly pronatalist country, places motherhood as a core element in defining women. Therefore, it is in this context that the choice of more and more women to be childfree needs to be analysed. This study attempted to explore the stigma and social exclusion faced by childfree women at home and in social settings. The qualitative methodology involving narrative enquiry was used to conduct in-depth interviews of 10 childfree women in India. It was found that stigma ranges from a very subtle manner of questioning to exclusion from certain domains, which often leads to self-regulated exclusion. Studies on the childfree community in India are only just emerging and are limited to the reasons behind childfree choices, while the current study extends to reveal the consequences of the childfree choice.