“The womb that failed us”: linguistic violence and gendered blame in infertility discourses in the Shona society

This paper reframes the gendered discourse of infertility in Zimbabwean Shona society as a form of linguistic gender-based violence (GBV). Drawing on ethnographic interviews and discourse analysis, the study uncovers how proverbs, metaphors, naming practices, spiritual narratives, and everyday talk construct infertility as a woman’s failure. While modern medical science recognises male infertility, Shona society remains fixated on the female body as the default site of blame. Infertile women are symbolically erased, socially ridiculed, and discursively punished through normalised speech acts rooted in patriarchy and pronatalism. Religious, medical, and communal institutions further reinforce this asymmetry, legitimising emotional and relational violence. Anchored in Peace Linguistics and Feminist Discourse Theory, the paper calls for a linguistic transformation that restores dignity, challenges reproductive blame, and promotes gender-sensitive communication within intimate, institutional, and communal spaces.