According to prior studies, female researchers in Austria exhibit a very high level of childlessness and, consequentially, a low mean number of children. Following up on these studies, we analyse childlessness intentions of young female researchers and compare them to those of other highly educated women in other occupations. We examine factors that are related to female researchers' intent to stay childless. The analysis is based on a survey of 196 female researchers between the ages of 25 and 45 (with the majority being between age 25 and 34). Results indicate that few young, childless researchers plan a life without children: Only 7% intend to stay childless and most of them want to have two children (66%). Their intentions are strikingly close to those of their highly educated peers in other occupations. We discuss three factors that play a role for childlessness intentions of female researchers: work-related conditions (employment uncertainty and work-family reconciliation), personal career orientation, and partnership context.

BACKGROUND: The long-term decline in cohort fertility in highly developed countries has been widely documented. However, no systematic analysis has investigated which parity contributed most to the fertility decline to low and very low levels. Objective: We examine how the contribution of changing parity progression ratios varied across cohorts, countries, and broader regions in Europe, North America, Australia, and East Asia. We pay special attention to countries that reached very low completed cohort fertility, below 1.75 children per woman. Methods: Using population censuses and large-scale surveys for 32 low fertility countries, we decompose the change in completed cohort fertility among women born between 1940 and 1970. The decomposition method takes into account the sequential nature of childbearing as a chain of transitions from lower to higher parities. Results: Among women born between 1940 and 1955, the fertility decline was mostly driven by reductions in the progression ratios to third and higher-order births. By contrast, among women born between 1955 and 1970, changes in fertility showed distinct regional patterns: In Central and Eastern Europe they were fuelled by falling second-birth rates, whereas in the German-speaking countries, Southern Europe, and East Asia decreases in first-birth rates played the major role. Conclusions: Pathways to low and very low fertility show distinct geographical patterns, which reflect the diversity of the cultural, socioeconomic, and institutional settings of low fertility countries. Contribution: Our study highlights the importance of analysing parity-specific components of fertility in order to understand fertility change and variation. We demonstrate that similar low levels of completed cohort fertility can result from different combinations of parity-specific fertility rates.

In this dissertation, I examine the constructions, maintenance, and resistance to dominant discourses concerning motherhood and non-motherhood in contemporary Hungary, using the popular Hungarian women’s magazine Nők Lapja as my key illustrative example. I strive to illuminate how gendered discourses, bio-power, history, and geo-politics are implicated not only in the construction of nationhood but also in defining women’s roles in nation-building. I hope to contribute to research that helps to better understand women’s contemporary social roles in Hungary, and the power relations that construct them. I argue that ideas regarding motherhood and non-motherhood in Hungary are often bound up in ideas concerning who should, or should not, have children, and why, and I explore in detail how these ideas have formed through the history of the nation. My analysis reveals different sites of power—focusing on policy and print media—that seek to determine women’s procreative decisions. I argue that, under various regimes, women’s procreative choices have consistently been systemically constrained, and framed as key to the nation’s success—or failure. Concerning Nők Lapja magazine, my research reveals that it both supports and resists traditional gender roles, at times contributing to discourses that naturalize childbearing and motherhood (also defining for readers whose motherhood is deemed desirable), but at other times disputing such ideas and redefining conceptions of womanhood to include women without children. Although ultimately the magazine pathologizes, disbelieves and negates the choice to be childless, Nők Lapja does resist and redefine limited definitions of womanhood and motherhood by carving out a small space for discussions of childlessness, and also by challenging conceptions of singletons as necessarily lonely and mothers as necessarily better if they stay at home.

The subject of my thesis is to analyze the evolution of the reproductive behavior of the Czech population to assess changes over time, especially after 1989 and to analyze the success of assisted reproduction in the Czech Republic in the period 2007 to 2013. It is divided into several parts. The first theoretical part describes the change in reproductive behavior after 1989, risk factors and causes of female and male infertility, possible tratments of diagnosed infertility and various methods of assisted reproduction. Another analytical part is dedicated to the evolution of fertility and the phenomenon of childlessness of young women. Some indicators are compared with selected European countries for an overall assessment. Subsequently are analyzed in detail the most widely used methods of assisted reproduction IVF, ICSI and kryoembryotransfer and of using indicators Pregnancy rate and Take-home baby rate is assessed their effectiveness. The thesis is supplemented by own research reproductive and family behavior on a selected sample of the Czech population.

This diploma thesis deals with the topic of voluntary childlessness, which, among other things, with regard to the low birth rate, resonates by our society. Its aim is to describe the concept of voluntary childlessness from a sociological point of view, to summarize existing sociological researches on this topic, and primarily to analyze the opinions and motives of women who have opted for voluntary childlessness. For the practical part is used qualitative method of Grounded Theory. The research itself takes the form of in-depth semi-structured interviews, which, thanks to the possibility of responding to specific communication partners, offer the opportunity to look into the lives and values of voluntarily childless women. The conclusion summarizes and interprets knowledge about the opinions and motives of voluntarily childless and offers the professional public a better understanding of this issue.

Bakgrund: Ofrivillig barnlöshet drabbar omkring 15% av kvinnorna som försöker skaffa barn, i Sverige. Ungefär en tredjedel av de 15% är helt infertila. Utredningar visar att problemet i cirka var tredje fall ligger hos kvinnan, i var tredje fall hos mannen. I den återstående tredjedel av fallen går det inte att fastställa vad infertiliteten beror på. Att leva med ofrivillig barnlöshet kan ge psykiska och fysiska hälsokonsekvenser. Syfte: Syftet var att beskriva kvinnans upplevelser av att leva med ofrivillig barnlöshet. Metod: Metoden som användes var en litteraturöversikt där tio vetenskapliga artiklar av kvalitativ metod analyserades enligt Fribergs metod. Sökningar genomfördes i databaserna CINAHL Complete och Pubmed. Resultat: I resultatet presenteras tre huvudkategorier: Sociala och samhällsmässigaupplevelser av ofrivillig barnlöshet, känsla av lidande och kulturell skillnad i upplevelser av ofrivillig barnlöshet med sex underkategorier: Stigmatisering, samhällets förväntningar och social press, social status och isolering, otillräcklighet och förnedring, psykisk påverkan, religiös och kulturell påverkan på upplevelsen. Det framkommer i resultatet att ofrivillig barnlöshet kan bidra till psykiskt lidande. Slutsats: Kvinnans upplevelser av infertilitet speglas främst genom en brist i livslust med följder som social, emotionell och psykisk påverkan. I arbetet har författarna fångat upp den bristande vården kring att behandla och hjälpa dessa kvinnor med stöd. / Background: Involuntary childlessness affects about 15 % of women that are trying toget pregnant in Sweden. About a third of the 15% are completely infertile. Investigations show that in about every third case the problem lies with the woman, in every third case with the man. In the remaining third of the cases, it is not possible to determine what the infertility is due to. Living with involuntary childlessness can have psychological and physical health consequences. Aim: The aim of this study was to describe the women’s experiences of living with involuntary childlessness. Method: The method is a literature review where ten scientific articles of qualitative method were analyzed by Friberg’s method. The searchings were made in CINAHL Complete and Pubmed. Results: The result is presented in three main categories: Social and societal experiences of involuntary childlessness, feeling of suffering and culturaldifference in experiences of involuntary childlessness with six subcategories: Stigmatization, society's expectations and social pressure, social status and isolation, inadequacy and humiliation, psychological influence, religious and cultural influence on the experience. It appears in the results that involuntary childlessness can contribute to mental suffering. Conclusion: The women's experiences of infertility are mainly reflected in a lack of zest for life with consequences such as social, emotional and psychological impact. In their work, the authors have captured the lack of care around treating and helping these women with support.

SAMMANFATTNING Uppskattningsvis är 72,4 miljoner drabbade av ofrivillig barnlöshet, infertilitet, i världen. Infertilitet beror till en tredjedel på kvinnlig faktor, en tredjedel på manlig faktor och resterande på både kvinnan och mannen. I 10-20 procent hittas ingen orsak till infertiliteten, så kallad oförklarlig barnlöshet. Utredning av ofrivillig barnlöshet lägger grunden för val av behandlingsmetod som till exempel kan vara ovulationsstimulering, insemination och in vitro fertilisering. Assisterad befruktning styrs av aktuell lagstiftning i det berörda landet. Livskvalitet innebär individens uppfattning och sin livssituation utifrån kulturella normer och värderingar där individen befinner sig i relation till egna mål, förväntningar, normer och intressen. Sexualitet är en underdimension till livskvalitet och sexuell hälsa innebär ett tillstånd av fysisk, känslomässigt, mentalt och socialt välbefinnande i förhållande till sexualiteten. Legitimerade barnmorskor arbetar inom området sexuell och reproduktiv hälsa vilket innebär många olika verksamhetsområden. Syftet med denna litteraturöversikt var att belysa den sexuella hälsan hos kvinnor och män som är ofrivilligt barnlösa. Sexton kvantitativa primärartiklar identifierades genom sökningar i databaser. Resultatet visade att den sexuella hälsan påverkades negativt hos ofrivilligt barnlösa kvinnor och män. Både sexuell dysfunktion hos kvinnor och erektil dysfunktion hos män hade en högre prevalens i jämförelse med hos fertila kvinnor och män. Även samlagsfrekvensen påverkades negativt. En sämre sexuell hälsa visade sig också medförda en sämre sexuell hälsa hos partnern. Förekomst av depression och ångest ökade sannolikheten för att en sämre sexuell hälsa skulle föreligga. Det är viktigt att barnmorskor har kunskap om hur ofrivillig barnlöshet påverkar den sexuella hälsan för att kunna ge en optimal vård. Utbildning om ofrivillig barnlöshet för allmänheten kan sannolikt minska befintliga fördomar. Förekomsten av stress över infertilitet kan lindras genom stöd och empati.

Motherhood is stereotypically considered one of the main characteristics every woman has. It’s congenital, something that naturally belongs to women and that, because of that, represents one of the main and necessary ways to really complete the path of womanhood. You fulfill your being a woman by being a mother. Therefore, if you do not become a mother, you are also seen as only for half woman, pitied or judged as selfish and arid for that.The research has the purpose to analyze how this social conception of motherhood and non- motherhood affects women’s choice to become mothers in Italy. Through qualitative interviewing and a feminist phenomenological perspective, 6 women (both mothers and childless) who are currently living in Italy reported their experience.It was thus feasible to observe how the influence of social conception of motherhood and non- motherhood manifests itself (1), the role played by the so-called “natural instinct” in it (2) and the way in which a reflection on the choice of becoming or not mothers was developed (3). In conclusion, it was also possible to frame how social change can be promoted in this field and recognize the importance that education and learning have in it.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University, 1979. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [143]-156) and index.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University, 1979. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [143]-156) and index.