Making the childfree choice: Perspectives of women living in South Africa

Abstract

This article explores heterosexual childfree women’s decisions and the ways in which they negotiate their childfree identity in the context of pronatalist expectations. A convenience sample of seven women living in South Africa were interviewed about their rationale and experience of being childfree (black = 5; white = 2; age range 22 to 53). Findings following thematic analysis of interview transcripts indicated that the participants’ reasons for making the childfree choice included: familiarity with mothering duties and activities, personal career and academic goals, and practical reasons associated with finances, or not having a suitable parenting partner. The women reported that they used various strategies to negotiate pronatalist sociocultural expectations, including playing along, passivity and active resistance through active adoption of a strong pro-childfree stance. The findings corroborate feminist theoretical views that women are active agents who negotiate pronatalist sociocultural norms and expectations and engage in active reproductive decision-making.

Keywords:

• childfree
• Africa
• childbearing
• pronatalism
• motherhood

Acknowledgement

This paper is based on research that has been supported in part by the University of Cape Town’s Research Committee (URC).