Suffering Infertility: The Impact of Infertility on Women's Life Experiences in Two Nigerian Communities

Abstract

This paper examines the experiences of women with infertility in two Nigerian communities with different systems of descent and historically different levels of infertility. First, the paper focuses on the life experiences of individual women across the two communities and second, it compares these experiences with those of their fertile counterparts, in each community. In doing this, women who are childless are distinguished from those with subfertility and compared with high-fertility women. The research is based on interdisciplinary research conducted among the Ijo and Yakurr people of southern Nigeria, which included a survey of approximately 100 childless and subfertile women and a matching sample of 100 fertile women as well as in-depth ethnographic interviews with childless and subfertile women in two communities: Amakiri in Delta State and Lopon in Cross River State. The findings indicate that while there are variations in the extent to which childlessness is considered to be problematic, the necessity for a woman to have a child remains basic in this region.

Reproductive Health and Bodily Integrity in Tanzania

“…A mixed-methods study (using a survey among 100 infertile and 100 fertile women, as well as in-depth interviews) from Nigeria described various stages of womanhood, including the onset of menses, marriage, and childbearing. Childbearing is necessary to the attainment of full womanhood, and childless women were not allowed to attend certain meetings and were more likely to be divorced (Larsen et al 2010). Hence, in contrast to European societies, African women's autonomy is strongly dependent on their reproductive role.…”

“…Consequently, childless women tend to be stigmatized (McCloskey, William, and Larsen ; Boserup ; Larsen et al. ; Dhont et al. ; Fledderjohann ), and miscarriages or stillbirths might reduce women's status, as they are often held responsible for the pregnancy loss (Frøen et al.…”

“…At the same time, fulfilling their reproductive role is an important source of women's social status. This is documented by a wide range of studies, including more theoretical and qualitatively informed papers (Boserup 1985;Das Gupta 1995), research using quantitative analyses of large-scale DHS data (for example Arestoff and Djemai 2013), and studies using a qualitative or mixed-method approach (such as Larsen et al 2010). According to various scholars women's social status increases with age and is strongly related to their reproductive role.…”

“…According to various scholars women's social status increases with age and is strongly related to their reproductive role. Consequently, childless women tend to be stigmatized (McCloskey, William, and Larsen 2005;Boserup 1985;Larsen et al 2010;Dhont et al 2011;Fledderjohann 2012), and miscarriages or stillbirths might reduce women's status, as they are often held responsible for the pregnancy loss (Frøen et al 2011;Heazell et al 2016).…”

Does Having a Living Child Increase Women’s Risk of Intimate Partner Violence? Evidence from 2008- 2013 Nigeria Demographic and Health Surveys

“…Research evidence confirms that marital unions experiencing inability to produce children often ends in dissolution (Kalmijn & Poortman, 2006;Sultan, 2010). Nevertheless, many women suffer involuntary childlessness in sub-Saharan Africa (Larsen et al, 2010;Hammarberg & Kirkman, 2013;Inhorn & Patrizio, 2015), with little or no access to assisted reproductive technologies (Inhorn, 2009;Ola, 2012). Such childlessness may result either from inability to have a live birth after years of being sexually active, and not using contraceptives (Larsen, 2005).…”