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How women in Bangladesh confront the stigma of childlessness: agency, resilience, and resistance

journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-09, 20:08 authored by Papreen NaharPapreen Nahar, Sjaak van der Geest
In a context where motherhood is an integral part of a woman's stereotype, being childless is a devastating experience. We explore how these so-called deviant women manage this situation. The objective of this article is to contribute to the debate regarding infertile women's agency, resilience, and resistance. This article is based on anthropological fieldwork among urban middle-class and rural poor women. Their life histories reveal that childless women in Bangladesh, a pro-natalist, patriarchal society, are not passive victims, but rather actively fight their stigmatization and manage to survive. The childless women follow overt and covert strategies to overcome their stigmatized identity and create space for themselves in various innovative ways. The women do not resist in a coordinated way as a group, but do so individually. Given the collective nature of a society like rural Bangladesh, we believe that the women's individual acts will eventually have collective effects.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Published version

Journal

Medical Anthropology Quarterly

ISSN

0745-5194

Publisher

Wiley

Issue

3

Volume

28

Page range

381-398

Department affiliated with

  • BSMS Publications

Research groups affiliated with

  • Brighton and Sussex Centre for Global Health Research Publications

Full text available

  • No

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2020-01-08

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2020-01-07

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