Abstract

In pronatalist societies, the decision to remain childfree creates a conflict-laden scenario. This article explores how childfree women confront social hostility and defend their reproductive autonomy through resistance strategies and tactics. With this aim, the results of a feminist research, positioned from feminist Standpoint theory and digital ethnography, are presented. The researcher conducted biographical-narrative interviews with sixteen voluntary childless women from Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru, Spain, and the United Kingdom, all of whom were members of a childfree Facebook group. This research revealed that there is a persistent tension between societal pressure placed on these women in pronatalist societies and their exercise of reproductive autonomy. This tension compels them to adopt four resistance strategies: questioning socialization and societal expectations surrounding motherhood; coping with social pressure; assuming a transgressive identity; and projecting a positive future. Each one of these strategies entails specific tactics employed by the participants. This paper highlights the connections between these strategies, their associated tactics, and the agentic skills involved.

Recommended Citation

Rojas-Madrigal, Carolina. 2024. "Swimming Against the Tide: Resistance Strategies and Agentic Skills Used by Childfree Women." Journal of Feminist Scholarship 25 (Fall): 10.23860/jfs.2024.25.03.