Childfree Women: Becoming, Being, and Belonging - Tapa blanda

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.

Lisa Mortimore, MA, is a psychotherapist and educator with a private practice in Victoria, BC. Currently she is working on her PhD at the University of Victoria. Her clinical practice and research interests focus on identity development, social justice, trauma, and spirituality.