Childfree and feminine - Understanding the gender identity of voluntarily childless women

The roles of women and of feminine identity have been historically and traditionally constructed around motherhood. However, recent years have seen a growing trend among women to remain childless/childfree. Drawing on interviews with 25 voluntarily childless women, this article considers the extent to which this trend results from the appeal or pull of the perceived advantages of a childfree lifestyle as well as the ways childfree women might represent a more fundamental and radical rejection of motherhood and the activities associated with it. The article concludes by considering how to recast understandings of feminine identity away from a mother-centered focus.