Becoming, being and belonging to the womanhood : a qualitative inquiry with voluntary childfree women
Date
2008-04-10T05:58:51Z
Authors
Mortimore, Lisa Michelle.
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Abstract
Dominant discourses of womanhood and femininity equate woman and mother synonymously, implying that motherhood is a woman's destiny. Childfree women need to create identities divergent of these dominant discourses. Traditional and some feminist psychological theories of women's identity development are based on women's biology and their capacity to reproduce, either implicitly or explicitly. Women who choose to be childfree fall outside of these theoretical models and illuminate the necessity to revise or expand our theoretical understanding of women's identity development. In this qualitative inquiry, six voluntary childfree women were interviewed about their experience of being and becoming women. They shared their experiences of self discovery, living authentically, creating identities, and how being childflee impacts their sense of belonging to the womanhood.