Failing Fatherhood: A Study of Childless Men in Rural Andhra Pradesh (original) (raw)
Childlessness and Its Consequences in India
Childlessness is the term for people - men and women - having no children. Childlessness may have personal, social and political significance. Marriage is a time honored, the universal institution, the birth of a child is the climax of happy union, fulfillment of a cherished dream and the ultimate desire of a married couple (Dixit, 1991). Every human being has an instinctive desire to become a parent and look after the offspring. For most people, to live alone, even with the loving mate, is unthinkable. Parenthood, as a stage of life, is characterized by the need to look after, to take care to give both materially and it: is terms of affection. For woman, it is also an expression of creativity and has both biological and psychological roots (Anand, 1984).
Reproductive Health, 2013
While infertility is a global challenge for millions of couples, low income countries have particularly high rates, of up to 30%. Infertility in these contexts is not limited to its clinical definition but is a socially constructed notion with varying definitions. In highly pronatalistic and patriarchal societies like Pakistan, women bear the brunt of the social, emotional and physical consequences of childlessness. While the often harsh consequences of childlessness for Pakistani women have been widely documented, there is a dearth of exploration into the ways in which prescribed gender roles inform the experiences of childlessness among Pakistani women and men. The aim of this study was to explore and compare how gender ideologies, values and expectations shape women's and men's experiences of infertility in Pakistan. Using an interpretive descriptive approach, in-depth interviews were conducted with 12 women and 8 men experiencing childlessness in Punjab, Pakistan from April to May 2008. Data analysis was thematic and inductive based on the principles of content analysis. The experience of infertility for men and women is largely determined by their prescribed gender roles. Childlessness weakened marital bonds with gendered consequences. For women, motherhood is not only a source of status and power, it is the only avenue for women to ensure their marital security. Weak marital ties did not affect men's social identity, security or power. Women also face harsher psychosocial, social, emotional and physical consequences of childlessness than men. They experienced abuse, exclusion and stigmatization at the couple, household and societal level, while men only experienced minor taunting from friends. Women unceasingly sought invasive infertility treatments, while most men assumed there was nothing wrong with themselves. This study highlights the ways in which gender roles and norms shape the experiences associated with involuntary childlessness for men and women in Punjab, Pakistan. The insight obtained into the range of experiences can potentially contribute to deeper understanding of the social construction of infertility and childlessness in pronatalistic and patriarchal societies as well as the ways in which gender ideologies operationalise to marginalise women.
Men leave me as I cannot have children': women's experiences with involuntary childlessness
Human Reproduction, 2002
BACKGROUND: This study explores the concerns and experiences related to involuntary childlessness of infertile women living in a diverse cultural urban community in South Africa. METHODS: In-depth interviews were conducted with 30 women seeking treatment for involuntary childlessness. Women were interviewed at the time of their first visit to an infertility clinic in a tertiary referral centre. RESULTS: All women verbalized intense emotions about their involuntary childlessness. In addition, a large number of women experienced negative social consequences including marital instability, stigmatization and abuse. CONCLUSIONS: These findings demonstrate that infertility can have a serious effect on both the psychological well-being and the social status of women in the developing world. Furthermore, the study provides insight into the cultural context of involuntary infertility in South Africa. The delivery of good infertility care in a community requires awareness of the implications of infertility and insight into the context in which these occur. Since many of the negative social implications of infertility are probably rooted in low status women in the developing world, effective intervention will ultimately require social, economical and political changes.
The impact of male involuntary childlessness
Psychreg Journal of Psychology , 2019
The implications of the global trend of declining fertility rates and an increasingly ageing population have been extensively reported. Childless men are, compared to women, missing from gerontological, psychological, reproduction, and sociological research. These fields have mainly focussed on family formation and practices with the fertility intentions, history, and experience of older men being overlooked. Over the past 15 years, research literature on both involuntary childlessness and ageing has highlighted the paucity of material on men’s experience. Infertility research has shown that failure to fulfil the status of parenthood may lead to a complex form of bereavement and is a significant challenge to identity. In the past three decades, there has been an escalation in the research and general literature surrounding fathers, fathering and fatherhood. Recent research into contemporary grandparenting has highlighted the intricacy and importance of intergenerational relationships to grandfathers. Drawing on my auto/biographical PhD study, this piece examines how 14 self-defined involuntarily childless men managed non-fatherhood. The findings demonstrated the complex intersections between the men’s attitude to childlessness, fatherhood, and non-fatherhood across the life course. The actions and attitudes of the men as they negotiated the movement from pre-transitional to a post-transitional stance towards fatherhood, demonstrated the different strategies each adapted in order to negotiate their procreative remit. This study countered the stereotype that fatherhood is not important to men and challenges research that reports that men are not affected by the social, emotional, and relational aspects of involuntary childlessness.
Childlessness in Andhra Pradesh, India: Treatment-seeking and consequences
Reproductive Health Matters, 1999
Andhra Pradesh has a high inddence of chndlessness, compared to the rest of India. This paper is based on a study that explored the psychosodal consequences of chndlessness in Ranga Reddy distdct Andhra Pradesh India in 1998, and descdbes the extent and ldnds ofjnfertjJjty treatment sought. Currently married women aged 20 years or more who had been marded for at least three years wUh no Jjve birth were included; the rate of chndlessness was five per cent. On average, they started allopathjc treatment and yjsits to holy places after three years of not hayjng a baby. A large majority sought allopathic treatment first and only tried other sorts oftreatment prayer, rituals and traditional treatments when this did not work or cost too much. About ten per cent had
Infertility and Patriarchy in India: Causes and Consequences
https://www.ijhsr.org/IJHSR\_Vol.13\_Issue.7\_July2023/IJHSR-Abstract48.html, 2023
Infertility is a complex issue that affects millions of couples worldwide and its impact is particularly significant in patriarchal societies like India. This paper investigates the causes and implications of infertility in India within the framework of patriarchy. The patriarchal society characterized by male domination and the expectation of procreation, lays a severe burden on women with infertility. Secondary data have been considered for exploring the causes and consequences of infertility among women in patriarchal setup. Results suggest that the causes of infertility are numerous, spanning from biological aspects to sociocultural and economic issues. Infertility has far-reaching implications on women, affecting their families, and society as a whole. Women with infertility are frequently stigmatized, discriminated, and blamed, resulting in lower social status, psychological pain and low self-worth. Addressing the issue of infertility within the context of patriarchy requires a multi-faceted approach. Efforts should be made to challenge and dismantle patriarchal norms and gender inequalities that contribute to the stigmatization of infertility. Nevertheless, the cost of the treatment of infertility including the Assisted Reproductive Technology techniques is highly expensive. Hence, there is a need to enhance access to affordable and quality healthcare, including infertility treatments, particularly in rural areas. Government has also launched certain laws and regulations to regulate the practice of surrogacy and In-vitro fertilization; nonetheless, there is a long way to go.
Background/Objective India observe double burden of fertility -childlessness along with high fertility, which brings it close to a developed country. Childlessness has serious demographic, social and health implications. We explored spatial variation of childlessness women in India along with several socio-economic and demographic correlates. Further we examined maternal and reproductive health problems among childless women and linkages between marital breakdown (divorce) and childlessness, in comparison to fertile women. Methods Cross-sectional data from 27,505 currently married women, aged 21-49 years, who were interviewed in 1998-99 National Family Health Survey (NFHS-2). These women had been filtered out from all India samples (90,303) based on criteria such as, age more than 20 years, currently not using any family planning methods, marital duration more than 3 years and staying with their husband. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to estimate the prevalence odds ratios for childlessness, adjusting for various covariates.
Male Psychology: The Magazine, 2022
“The large volume of academic literature and general media on motherhood highlights the small amount on fatherhood. Significantly, there is even less work on male involuntary childlessness and childlessness-by-circumstance.” “Men’s experience of involuntary childlessness has been marginalised, if not ignored almost entirely, in the research literature.” These quotes make the motivation for Dr Hadley’s work clear. Without question, for anyone interested in the experiences of childless men, this is a most valuable source. The dearth of research on the topic is recommendation enough. Based on Hadley’s doctoral study, the central focus of the book is the extensive set of interviews with fourteen childless men in later life. One of the factors which emerges is that such childless men consider themselves outsiders from the world of parents and families. It is worth noting, then, that Rob Hadley considers himself an insider to their world, as a self-defined involuntarily childless man.