Intersectional analysis of the experiences of women who fail to conceive in low and middle income neighbourhoods of Delhi, India: Findings from a qualitative study
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND: Experiences of delayed conception and infertility have been reported among women. However, the concept of intersectionality is rarely utilised in studies of infertility, and it is particularly uncommon in research from low- and middle- income countries. RESEARCH QUESTION: What are the lived experiences of women with delayed conception in low to -middle income neighbourhoods of Delhi, India? METHODS: This was a qualitative study (n = 35) that recruited women who had failed to conceive after 18 months of regular unprotected sexual intercourse. Data were collected between February and July 2021. Data were collected through focus group discussions in low income to middle income neighbourhoods of Delhi, India. Analysis identified themes related to intersecting axes of inequality. RESULTS: The results showed that gender intersected with economics, masculinity, patriarchal norms and class to influence the experiences of women. The intersection of gender, economics and patriarchal norms compromised women's agency to be active generators of family income, and this dynamic was exacerbated by patrilocal residence. In addition, masculinity contributed to stigmatisation and blaming of women, due to the inaccurate perception that men did not contribute to a couple's infertility. The intersection of gender and social class in medical settings created barriers to women's access to medical information. CONCLUSION: Findings from this study provide representative examples of the variety of axes of inequality that shape women's experiences in the study setting. Although these findings may not be generalisable to all women who are experiencing delayed conception, they highlight a need for improved awareness and education on infertility, as well as a need to ensure the availability and accessibility of fertility care for couples in need.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Only a small fraction of people in LMICs receive ART, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, due to limited access and high treatment costs.
“Yet, only a small fraction in LMICs receive this treatment, particularly in SSA, due to limited access and high treatment costs [23–25].”
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 [25]
The Discussion’s “Implications for service and policy” section calls for universal access to ART and links higher fertility-treatment costs in LMICs to private-sector provision and limited regulation. It does not state that only a small fraction receive ART or identify sub-Saharan Africa as particularly affected. Page numbers are unavailable in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.85)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
Tong, A., Sainsbury, P., & Craig, J. (2007) · International Journal for Quality in Health Care · doi:10.1093/intqhc/mzm042 · Cited by 42,509 · see citing works
Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color
Crenshaw, K. (1991) · Stanford Law Review · doi:10.2307/1229039 · Cited by 29,585 · see citing works
WEST, C., & ZIMMERMAN, D. H. (1987) · Gender & Society · doi:10.1177/0891243287001002002 · Cited by 8,954 · see citing works
The Complexity of Intersectionality
McCall, L. (2005) · Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society · doi:10.1086/426800 · Cited by 6,682 · cited 1× · see citing works
“Our sample entirely comprised women of low to middle economic status, we therefore applied an intra-categorical approach to intersectionality analysis [45], and showed how economics and masculinity affected women’s experiences.”
MethodKANDIYOTI, D. (1988) · Gender & Society · doi:10.1177/089124388002003004 · Cited by 3,081 · see citing works
Bowleg, L. (2008) · Sex Roles · doi:10.1007/s11199-008-9400-z · Cited by 2,004 · see citing works
Choo, H. Y., & Ferree, M. M. (2010) · Sociological Theory · doi:10.1111/j.1467-9558.2010.01370.x · Cited by 1,698 · see citing works
The Roots of Gender Inequality in Developing Countries
Jayachandran, S. (2015) · Annual Review of Economics · doi:10.1146/annurev-economics-080614-115404 · Cited by 1,028 · see citing works
Reflexivity in qualitative research
Dodgson, J. E. (2019) · Journal of Human Lactation · doi:10.1177/0890334419830990 · Cited by 839 · see citing works
Doing Qualitative Research: A Comprehensive Guide
Silverman, D. J., & Marvasti, A. (2008) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 564 · see citing works
Qualitative Research: Getting Started
Austin, Z., & Sutton, J. W. (2014) · The Canadian Journal of Hospital Pharmacy · doi:10.4212/cjhp.v67i6.1406 · Cited by 440 · see citing works
Class, Patriarchy, and Women's Work in Bangladesh
Cain, M. T., Khanam, S. R., & Nahar, S. (1979) · Population and Development Review · doi:10.2307/1972079 · Cited by 432 · see citing works
Krieger, N. (2020) · Annual Review of Public Health · doi:10.1146/annurev-publhealth-040119-094017 · Cited by 411 · see citing works
Frederiksen, Y., Farver-Vestergaard, I., Skovgård, N. G., Ingerslev, H. J., & Zachariae, R. (2015) · BMJ Open · doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2014-006592 · Cited by 380 · see citing works
STIGMA AND EVERYDAY RESISTANCE PRACTICES
Riessman, C. K. (2000) · Gender & Society · doi:10.1177/089124300014001007 · Cited by 301 · see citing works
Njagi, P., Groot, W., Arsenijevic, J., Dyer, S., Mburu, G., & Kiarie, J. (2023) · Human Reproduction Open · doi:10.1093/hropen/hoad007 · Cited by 277 · see citing works
Self-citationDozier, R. (2005) · Gender & Society · doi:10.1177/0891243204272153 · Cited by 218 · see citing works
Where are all the men? The marginalization of men in social scientific research on infertility
Culley, L. A., Hudson, N., & Lohan, M. (2013) · Reproductive BioMedicine Online · doi:10.1016/j.rbmo.2013.06.009 · Cited by 214 · see citing works
Fertility, Dimensions of Patriarchy, and Development in India
Malhotra, A., Vanneman, R. D., & Kishor, S. (1995) · Population and Development Review · doi:10.2307/2137495 · Cited by 201 · see citing works
Gender differences in experiences with and adjustments to infertility: A literature review
Ying, L., Wu, L. H., & Loke, A. Y. (2015) · International Journal of Nursing Studies · doi:10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2015.05.004 · Cited by 191 · see citing works
Software and Method: Reflections on Teaching and Using QSR NVivo in Doctoral Research
Johnston, L. H. (2006) · International Journal of Social Research Methodology · doi:10.1080/13645570600659433 · Cited by 178 · see citing works
10 Best resources on… intersectionality with an emphasis on low- and middle-income countries
Larson, E. A., George, A. S., Morgan, R., & Poteat, T. (2016) · Health Policy and Planning · doi:10.1093/heapol/czw020 · Cited by 160 · see citing works
Inhorn, M. C. (2004) · Medical Anthropology Quarterly · doi:10.1525/maq.2004.18.2.162 · Cited by 157 · see citing works
Infertility Stigma: A Qualitative Study on Feelings and Experiences of Infertile Women.
Taebi, M., Kariman, N., Montazeri, A., & Majd, H. A. (2021) · PubMed Central · doi:10.22074/ijfs.2021.139093.1039 · Cited by 139 · see citing works
Insider and Outsider Research: Negotiating Self at the Edge of the Emic/Etic Divide
Beals, F., Kidman, J., & Funaki, H. (2019) · Qualitative Inquiry · doi:10.1177/1077800419843950 · Cited by 102 · see citing works
The Impact of Transportation Infrastructure on Women's Employment in India
Lei, L., Desai, S., & Vanneman, R. D. (2019) · Feminist Economics · doi:10.1080/13545701.2019.1655162 · Cited by 91 · see citing works
Caste, Kinship, and Life Course: Rethinking Women's Work and Agency in Rural South India
Rao, N. (2014) · Feminist Economics · doi:10.1080/13545701.2014.923578 · Cited by 80 · see citing works
Ceballo, R., Graham, E. T., & Hart, J. (2015) · Psychology of Women Quarterly · doi:10.1177/0361684315581169 · Cited by 77 · see citing works
Patrilocal Residence and Women’s Social Status: Evidence from South Asia
Khalil, U., & Mookerjee, S. (2018) · Economic Development and Cultural Change · doi:10.1086/697584 · Cited by 71 · see citing works
Nahar, P., & Richters, A. (2011) · Anthropology and Medicine · doi:10.1080/13648470.2011.615911 · Cited by 69 · see citing works
Taneja, S., Chowdhury, R., Dhabhai, N., Upadhyay, R. P., Mazumder, S., Sharma, S., Bhatia, K., Chellani, H. K., Dewan, R., Mittal, P., et al. (2022) · BMJ · doi:10.1136/bmj-2022-072046 · Cited by 65 · see citing works
Self-citationThe Continuity and Discontinuity of the Embodied Self in Infertility*
Clarke, L. H., Martin-Matthews, A., & Matthews, R. W. (2008) · Canadian Review of Sociology/Revue canadienne de sociologie · doi:10.1111/j.1755-618x.2006.tb00856.x · Cited by 53 · see citing works
on behalf of the Women and Infants Integrated Growth Study (WINGS) Group, Taneja, S., Chowdhury, R., Dhabhai, N., Mazumder, S., Upadhyay, R. P., Sharma, S., Dewan, R., Mittal, P., Chellani, H. K., et al. (2020) · Trials · doi:10.1186/s13063-020-4059-z · Cited by 53 · see citing works
Self-citationExperiences of Infertility in British and Pakistani Women: A Cross-Cultural Qualitative Analysis
Batool, S. S., & de Visser, R. O. (2014) · Health Care For Women International · doi:10.1080/07399332.2014.980890 · Cited by 49 · see citing works
Women and Infertility in a Pronatalist Culture: Mental Health in the Slums of Mumbai
Roberts, L. R., Renati, S. J., Solomon, S., & Montgomery, S. (2020) · International Journal of Women s Health · doi:10.2147/ijwh.s273149 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
Gerrits, T., Kroes, H., Russell, S., & van Rooij, F. (2023) · Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters · doi:10.1080/26410397.2022.2134629 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
Measuring translation difficulty: Theoretical and methodological considerations
Sun, S. (2015) · Across Languages and Cultures · doi:10.1556/084.2015.16.1.2 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
Patrilocal Residence and Female Labor Supply: Evidence From Kyrgyzstan
Landmann, A., Seitz, H., & Steiner, S. (2018) · Demography · doi:10.1007/s13524-018-0724-1 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
INVOLUNTARY CHILDLESSNESS, STIGMA AND WOMEN’S IDENTITY
Panggabean, G. S. (2016) · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · Cited by 9 · see citing works
Adhikary, P., Roy, N., Mburu, G., Kabra, R., Habib, N., Kiarie, J. N., Dhabhai, N., Chowdhury, R., & Mazumder, S. (2022) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0264777 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Self-citationMcCann, L. M. (1997) · Journal of Comparative Family Studies · doi:10.3138/jcfs.28.2.113 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 2
- [7]Uberoi P. Family, kinship and marriage in India: Oxford University Press, USA; 1994.
- [36]Jain D. Indian women. New Delhi: Ministry of Information, Government of India Press; 1975.
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Pathak, B. G., Mburu, G., Habib, N., Kabra, R., Malik, A., Kiarie, J. N., Chowdhury, R., Dhabhai, N., & Mazumder, S. (2025) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0315347 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Self-citationExperiences of infertility among couples in Morocco
Benbella, A., Mburu, G., Zaidouni, A., Elomrani, S., Yahyane, A., Gholbzouri, K., Kiarie, J. N., & Bezad, R. (2025) · Frontiers in Reproductive Health · doi:10.3389/frph.2024.1513243 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Self-citationDarojat, Z., Rosida, I., Sari, S. W., Jundiayaturrahman, H. M., & Hidayat, B. K. (2025) · Asian Women · doi:10.14431/aw.2025.6.41.2.111 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Infertility and womanhood in Kashmir: exploring stigma, marital strain and coping strategies
Yaqoob, S., Sheikh, A. H., & Lone, B. A. (2025) · International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy · doi:10.1108/ijssp-08-2025-0535 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Oppong, S. S., Naab, F., Duah, I. O., Ankamah, S., Owiredu, D., Ametor, F. H., Imakando, M. M., Kyei, J. M., & Danso-Appiah, A. (2025) · PLOS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0335068
“Yet , only a small fraction in LMICs receive this treat-ment, particularly in SSA, due to limited access and high treatment costs [23–25].”
Pathak, B. G., Mburu, G., Habib, N., Kabra, R., Kiarie, J. N., Chowdhury, R., Dhabhai, N., & Mazumder, S. (2025) · medRxiv · doi:10.1101/2025.11.12.25340115
Self-citationToward Integrative Reproductive Health Justice in India
Dutta, S., & De, P. S. (2026) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-68127-2_876-1
Pathak, B. G., Mburu, G., Habib, N., Kabra, R., Kiarie, J. N., Chowdhury, R., Dhabhai, N., & Mazumder, S. (2026) · Frontiers in Reproductive Health · doi:10.3389/frph.2026.1772807
Self-citationAdhikary, P., Mburu, G., Habib, N., Kabra, R., Kiarie, J., Dhabhai, N., & Mazumder, S. (2026) · PLOS Global Public Health · doi:10.1371/journal.pgph.0006265
Self-citationSaravanan, H. S., Jeevakumar, K., Ramesh, A., Arulmozhi, P., Anitha Virgin Kumari, H., & Arunmurugan, S. (2026) · Research Square · doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-9763235/v1
- Authors
- Adhikary, P., Mburu, G., Kabra, R., Habib, N. A., Kiarie, J., Dhabhai, N., Chowdhury, R., & Mazumder, S.
- Affiliations
- Society for Applied Studies (IN)
- World Health Organization (CH)
- Corresponding author
- Mazumder, Sarmila
- ORCID
- Venue
- PLOS ONE
- Publisher
- Public Library of Science (PLoS)
- Published
- 2024-07-03
- Volume
- 19
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- e0304029
- ISSN
- 1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC11221677
- OpenAlex
- W4400278466
- Cited by
- 11
- References
- 41
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 6
- FWCI
- 4.31
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- World Health Organization (2020/1026382-0)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Reproductive Medicine › Reproductive Health and Technologies
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Gender, Health, and Social Inequality
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Reproductive Health and Contraception
- Keywords
- infertility, delayed conception, intersectionality, women's experiences, gender inequality, patriarchy, masculinity, social class, patrilocal residence, access to fertility care, low- and middle-income countries, Delhi
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Female, Fertilization, Humans, Income, India, Male, Poverty, Residence Characteristics, Social Class, Socioeconomic Factors, Focus Groups, Qualitative Research, Young Adult, Masculinity
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
