A discourse analysis of South African women's experiences of infertility.

Abstract

For many women motherhood is central to their identity and this notion is highlighted in the predominate discourse of womanhood equals motherhood. In South Africa, motherhood is highly revered and respected. For childless women living in this sociocultural context, life can be very disheartening and unfulfilling. South Africa is a nation characterized with (cultural and ethnic) diversity and therefore many discursive variations about what motherhood should entail is socially enforced. Infertile women are regarded as social deviants and are often terribly stigmatised and ridiculed. Because different cultures embrace different discourses of womanhood (and motherhood) infertility have different meanings for different women. This study primarily explored how six South African middle class infertile women constructed meaning of their infertility. Using a qualitative design, six in-depth individual interviews were conducted and the data collected were analysed using discourse analysis. Discourse analysis allowed for dominant discourses of infertility employed by the participants to firstly, be identified and then described and contextualise these discourses in terms of the broader discursive context. The analysis of the narratives indicated four predominate discourses namely; womanhood equals motherhood, infertility is disempowering, children constitute a family and infertility is punishment.