Social representations of ‘childless’ women in Bangladesh

The research paper challenges the marginalization process of ‘childless’ women in Bangladeshi society. Here, Joan W. Scott’s theoretical approach is used as major guide to examine the gendered social system that a ‘childless’ woman encounters regarding her reproductive status. Methodologically, I look at society’s lens – scrutinizing various social and cultural representations that society made to stigmatize ‘childless’ women in the name of ‘represent’ them. Therefore, to challenge this stigma-normalization process, I put childless word within quotation mark before using it to refer women throughout my paper. After analysing data, the study demonstrates the subjugation of ‘childless’ women is embedded in society’s pronatalist ideology-essentialization of having children. This pronatalism puts foremost demand on ‘motherhood’ in patriarchal social structure thus biological ‘role’ became as only ‘role’ for all women to be fit in society. Moreover, motherhood together with other institutions-health seeking sector, religion and masculinity etc. exacerbates women’s lives where a ‘non-mother’ woman gets discrediting identity (e.g. childless, barren, infertile etc.) from society compare to a ‘mother’ one. Furthermore, both interview and representation analysis indicate that, ‘childless’ women exercise their agency either subtle or direct way depending their other attributes, surrounded environment and worldview. Overall, society historically constitutes a never- ended stigmatization process by creating old and new representations around women’s reproductive status which continuously excluding ‘childless’ women from getting the ‘whole’ sense.