Voluntary Childlessness

Female voluntary childlessness has been defined as women of childbearing age who are fertile and either choose to be childless or have decided to be sterilised or women past childbearing age who were fertile but chose to be childless. Almost one fifth of women living in Ireland remain childless. While this trend reflects changing views towards mothering, inquiry to date has predominantly concerned itself with the ‘why’ of choosing to be childless, leading to a dearth of research on the lived experience of this phenomenon. The aim of this research study was to address this imbalance and to explore the lived experience of women living in Ireland who choose to be childless. To do this, a hermeneutic (interpretative) phenomenological research approach was taken. The evocative lived experiences of 15 voluntarily childless women living in Ireland were borrowed. Data analysis identified the common yet divergent human experiences of being fearful, being decisive, being judged, and being free. The original findings of this study consider fear as a positive factor in influencing the decision-making process around procreation for the participants of this study. While voluntarily childless women are often portrayed as wishing to avoid responsibility, the participants in this study experienced a sense of moral responsibility as well as freedom and self-expansion in choosing to forego motherhood. Consideration is given to how best to respond psychotherapeutically to women who choose to be childless. Additional information on this study can be access by clicking on this link https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/health-family/no-baby-on-board-the-women-who-choose-not-to-have-children-1.4585876

This research was conducted by Deirdre O'Keeffe as part of her completion of a Masters in Psychotherapy at DCU under the supervision of Dr Rita Glover rita.glover@dcu.ie between Autumn 2019 & Spring 2020