Living as an infertile woman: the case of southern and northern Ghana
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND: Infertility is detrimental to the health of married couples, especially women. Despite the consequences associated with the condition, little is done to reduce the repercussions. This study throws more light on the lived experiences of infertile women and on how they can be helped to improve their own condition. METHODOLOGY: We interviewed 30 infertile married women in the Northern and Ashanti regions of Ghana, 15 from each region. A qualitative method, phenomenological study design and thematic analysis was employed to explore their lived experiences. RESULTS: Due the huge stigma, some women reported that their loved ones encouraged them to try to conceive. Others revealed that, they were considering relocating from their current communities to reduce the insults, intense pressure, stress, and stigma. Though some revealed maltreatment from their husbands and in-laws, others stated their husbands disclosed their fertility status to their own family members to avoid these families pressuring these women. CONCLUSIONS: To reduce the stigma, pronatalist societies urgently need education and sensitization. Would-be couples should be counselled to have a plan to deal with such occurrences should they experience them.
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Infertile women and couples are denied many privileges in the family and are seen as worthless and useless.
“They are denied many privileges in the family and are seen as worthless and useless [27,28].”
From Psychosocial interventions for improving marital intimacy, sexual satisfaction, and quality of life of women and couples with infertility problems in low and middle-income countries: Systematic review protocol (2025) · cites this paper as [27]
The Findings report that women without children are viewed as worthless, and an account in ‘Discouraging comments from other people’ says a participant’s family saw her as useless and nearly expelled her from the home. The paper documents family maltreatment, but these passages do not establish that infertile women and couples are denied ‘many privileges’ in the family. (LLM, conf=0.85)
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“They are denied many privileges in the family and are seen as worthless and useless [27,28].”
- Authors
- Ofosu-Budu, D., & Hanninen, V.
- Affiliations
- University of Eastern Finland (FI)
- Corresponding author
- Ofosu-Budu, Dorcas
- ORCID
- Ofosu-Budu, Dorcas
- Venue
- Reproductive Health
- Published
- 2020-05-20
- Volume
- 17
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 69-69
- ISSN
- 1742-4755 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC7240982
- OpenAlex
- W3027216767
- Cited by
- 51
- References
- 30
- Citations by year
- 2026: 12 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 17 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 1
- FWCI
- 0.37
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Update notices
- correction (2020-12-28)
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- Reproductive Health (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- Itä-Suomen Yliopisto kuopio kampus (Travel grant)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Reproductive Medicine › Reproductive Health and Technologies
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Reproductive Health and Contraception
- Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Demographic Trends and Gender Preferences
- Keywords
- female infertility, lived experience, stigma, infertile women, relocation, domestic violence, pronatalism, infertility counseling
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Emotions, Female, Ghana, Humans, Infertility, Female, Marriage, Qualitative Research, Social Stigma
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