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 childfree women between
29 and 35 years of age were interviewed about their
experience of being and becoming women. They shared
their experiences of self discovery, living
authentically, creating identities, and how being
childfree impacts their sense of belonging to the
womanhood.
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 childfree women between
29 and 35 years of age were interviewed about their
experience of being and becoming women. They shared
their experiences of self discovery, living
authentically, creating identities, and how being
childfree impacts their sense of belonging to the
womanhood.







