Infertile women’s survival strategies in rural Bangladesh: A qualitative study

This study focused on the experiences of infertile women in rural Bangladesh. Infertility is not a new phenomenon in Bangladesh. In fact, the infertility rate in Bangladesh is the highest among all South Asian countries. Infertile women face many challenges in society regarding their new uncertain identity. The aim of this study was to explore infertile women’s survival strategies by considering sociocultural factors in the rural community in Bangladesh. Additionally, this article explains infertile women’s new identities and portrays their experiences in the family and society. As the nature of this research is qualitative, we conducted 20 in-depth interviews with infertile women in Godagari Upazila, a rural area situated in the Rajshahi district in Bangladesh. All the respondents were selected through purposive sampling. The criterion for sample selection was a married woman who had no child within five years and whose doctor decided about her infertility. The results suggest that there is a gender dimension to infertility in research, as only women are framed as infertile. This makes women socially isolated and sometimes results in abandonment. For survival strategies in families and society, women use coping strategies such as paying the entire cost of treatment by their family, avoiding social gatherings, accepting their infertile identity, and demonstrating resilience in marriage. The study also suggests that more discussion should be from government and nongovernmental organizations to improve the situation and stop blaming women.