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: my PhD research about childlessness
It's been years since I updated here but I want to use it for a different purpose now. This year I've begun my PhD research into what might be called "contingent childlessness" - that is, women who always saw themselves as having a child but have ended up (or are ending up) without having done so, not because they were biologically infertile (at least initially) but because things didn't work out that way (it was "contingent" on finding the right partner to share raising a child, or getting financially secure first or whatever). I've worked as a counsellor with a number of women with this experience, and it is a difficult one for some women, but one which is not well understood publicly. Statistically, if you haven't had children and are able to do so, you are presumed to be "voluntarily childless", but this is not how many women see themselves. If you're somewhere in your mid to late 30's or 40's, and would be interested in talking to me about the possibility of being involved, can you be in touch with me please?
Thanks a lot
Lois
PS. For those of who like to speak academic-speak, here's a little summary of what I'm doing:
Title of Research thesis: Contingent Childlessness: Narratives of desire, being and becoming.
The project is an exploratory study of the experience of women aged 35-50 who have not chosen to be childless but have become so for a range of social, rather than biological reasons (they may, for example, not have met someone they wanted to raise a child with, or their partner may already have children and not want to have more. They may have wanted to develop their career or achieve financial stability and then find themselves unable to conceive). These women are engaged in a process of coming to terms with probably not becoming biological mothers. They are in the unusual – but not uncommon – position of being neither “voluntarily childless” (since they would like to have a child), nor “involuntarily childless” (since they are, at least initially, biologically capable of doing so).
Although the numbers of women who have not had a child are rising in NZ, as they are in many other Western countries, these women are statistically designated as childless by choice. My research will explore the possibility that childlessness may be viewed as being the outcome of neither intent not biological infertility but contingency, for a significant number of women. I will use a life story approach which involves engaging participants in guided, semi structured conversations about their narratives of contingent childlessness: the choices they have made, their hopes and dreams and feelings about how things have worked out for them, other people’s responses, the social and financial constraints that have impacted them, and the sense they might have of timing in relation to making the choice to have a child.
Lois Tonkin – PhD student, University of Canterbury
Phone 03 942 9435, or 021 337942
email: loistonkin@paradise.net.nz
It's been years since I updated here but I want to use it for a different purpose now. This year I've begun my PhD research into what might be called "contingent childlessness" - that is, women who always saw themselves as having a child but have ended up (or are ending up) without having done so, not because they were biologically infertile (at least initially) but because things didn't work out that way (it was "contingent" on finding the right partner to share raising a child, or getting financially secure first or whatever). I've worked as a counsellor with a number of women with this experience, and it is a difficult one for some women, but one which is not well understood publicly. Statistically, if you haven't had children and are able to do so, you are presumed to be "voluntarily childless", but this is not how many women see themselves. If you're somewhere in your mid to late 30's or 40's, and would be interested in talking to me about the possibility of being involved, can you be in touch with me please?
Thanks a lot
Lois
PS. For those of who like to speak academic-speak, here's a little summary of what I'm doing:
Title of Research thesis: Contingent Childlessness: Narratives of desire, being and becoming.
The project is an exploratory study of the experience of women aged 35-50 who have not chosen to be childless but have become so for a range of social, rather than biological reasons (they may, for example, not have met someone they wanted to raise a child with, or their partner may already have children and not want to have more. They may have wanted to develop their career or achieve financial stability and then find themselves unable to conceive). These women are engaged in a process of coming to terms with probably not becoming biological mothers. They are in the unusual – but not uncommon – position of being neither “voluntarily childless” (since they would like to have a child), nor “involuntarily childless” (since they are, at least initially, biologically capable of doing so).
Although the numbers of women who have not had a child are rising in NZ, as they are in many other Western countries, these women are statistically designated as childless by choice. My research will explore the possibility that childlessness may be viewed as being the outcome of neither intent not biological infertility but contingency, for a significant number of women. I will use a life story approach which involves engaging participants in guided, semi structured conversations about their narratives of contingent childlessness: the choices they have made, their hopes and dreams and feelings about how things have worked out for them, other people’s responses, the social and financial constraints that have impacted them, and the sense they might have of timing in relation to making the choice to have a child.
Lois Tonkin – PhD student, University of Canterbury
Phone 03 942 9435, or 021 337942
email: loistonkin@paradise.net.nz
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