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Gender & Society
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Childfree And Feminine

Understanding the Gender Identity of Voluntarily Childless Women

Rosemary Gillespie,

University of Portsmouth

The roles of women and of feminine identity have been historically and traditionally constructed around motherhood. However, recent years have seen a growing trend among women to remain childless/ childfree. Drawing on interviews with 25 voluntarily childless women, this article considers the extent to which this trend results from the appeal or pull of the perceived advantages of a childfree lifestyle as well as the ways childfree women might represent a more fundamental and radical rejection of motherhood and the activities associated with it. The article concludes by considering how to recast understandings of feminine identity away from a mother-centered focus.

Key Words: childless • childfree • femininity • gender • identity

Gender & Society, Vol. 17, No. 1, 122-136 (2003)
DOI: 10.1177/0891243202238982
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