"I could be a father, but I could never be a mother" : values and meanings of women's voluntary childlessness in Southern Alberta

Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorAyers, Gillian
dc.contributor.supervisorMalacrida, Claudia
dc.date.accessioned2012-11-23T17:39:12Z
dc.date.available2012-11-23T17:39:12Z
dc.date.issued2012
dc.degree.levelMasters
dc.descriptionviii, 215 leaves ; 29 cmen_US
dc.description.abstractThis thesis examines the experiences, beliefs, motivations, and perceived costs and benefits of women who are childless by choice in Southern Alberta. I investigate the naturalized and normalized understandings of femininity, motherhood, and citizenship more broadly, and what this means for voluntarily childless women. Using data collected from 21 semi-structured qualitative interviews, I draw on a Foucauldian feminist framework to explore the narratives of voluntarily childless women, and, through subsequent examination, to explore issues of choice, responsibility, pronatalism, identity, and stigma. I first consider how the women negotiate their childbearing decisions in light of competing pronatalist, capitalist, and cultural demands. I then focus on techniques of identity construction by highlighting the negotiations of voluntarily childless women in relation to the physical, emotional, and social costs and benefits of their reproductive decisions. Finally, I explore the varying sources of pressure and support that impact women’s experience in daily life.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10133/3226
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.publisherLethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Dept. of Sociology, 2012en_US
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of Sociologyen_US
dc.publisher.facultyArts and Scienceen_US
dc.relation.ispartofseriesThesis (University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Arts and Science)en_US
dc.subjectChildfree choiceen_US
dc.subjectChildlessness -- Albertaen_US
dc.title"I could be a father, but I could never be a mother" : values and meanings of women's voluntary childlessness in Southern Albertaen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US
Files
Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
AYERS_GILLIAN_MA_2012.pdf
Size:
960.82 KB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Download
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
license.txt
Size:
1.63 KB
Format:
Item-specific license agreed upon to submission
Description:
Download
Collections
Arts and Science, Faculty of
University of Lethbridge Theses