Women’s Feelings about Childlessness in Two Pro-Natalist Countries

• Authors: Margarita Gedvilaite-Kordusiene, , Vaida Tretjakova , Łukasz Krzyżowski
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

This article focuses on women’s feelings in regard to being childless/childfree in two pro-natalist countries- Lithuania and Poland. The article is based on semi-structured interviews conducted in Lithuania (N = 40) and Poland (N = 31) in 2017–2018. Comparing the experiences of two generations of women, the article reveals how social pressure functions as a mechanism of social exclusion in both countries. The analysis of circumstantial childlessness showed two ways in which women constructed their narratives: feeling normal (which prevailed in the older generation), and having ambivalent or negative reactions (which was prevalent in the narratives of both generations). The most intense emotions were revealed by women who had not had children for physiological reasons, while those women who had chosen not to have children faced strong pressure from the social environment.

Keywords

EN

feelings about childlessness; pro-natalism; social exclusion; Lithuania; Poland

• Publisher: Polskie Towarzystwo Socjologiczne
• Journal: Polish Sociological Review
• Year: 2020
• Volume: 210
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 229-244

Dates

published

2020-06-24

Contributors

author

Margarita Gedvilaite-Kordusiene,

• The Institute of Human Geography and Demography, Vilnius

author

Vaida Tretjakova

• The Institute of Human Geography and Demography, Vilnius

author

Łukasz Krzyżowski

• AGH University of Science and Technology

Identifiers

DOI

10.26412/psr210.06