Experiences, Motives and Subjective Meanings of Childlessness in Lithuania: A Comparison of Women in Two Generations

The phenomenon of childlessness in Lithuania has so far received little attention from researchers, even though it has become increasingly relevant in recent years. According to Human Fertility Database, cohort childlessness has increased by a factor of 2 since the 1950s in Lithuania: among women born in 1953 5,6 percent were childless, whereas 12,4 percent remained childless among those born in 1970. The data from the Generations and Gender Survey (conducted in the country in 2006 and 2009) also indicates the increase in voluntary childlessness among women of reproductive ages.

In this paper we aim to analyse experiences, motives and subjective meanings attributed to childlessness in two generations of women in Lithuania. Our study employs qualitative research methods and is based on 45 semi-structured interviews with childless women, gathered during the research project Childlessness in Lithuania: socio‐cultural changes and individual experiences in modern society (financed by the Lithuanian Research Council, contract No. S-MOD-17-3). The first generation of women who are currently aged 50-69 represent a generation who’s most active reproductive years passed in the late soviet period and the first decade of Lithuanian independence in the 1990s. Women aged 27-49 represent a younger generation that is still in the process of remaining childless. Cultural norms in Lithuania praise maternity and since the mean age at first birth in Lithuania is 27 years, childless women of this age and slightly older experience high normative pressure to have children.

Following recent literature on childlessness we do not focus on one type of childlessness but rather view it as a complex, multifaceted phenomenon, recognizing that the boundaries between voluntary and involuntary childlessness are not always clear. In our analysis we highlight the importance of the socio-historical context and aim to reveal individual, familial and socio-cultural determinants of childlessness in Lithuania.