Discourses on Motherhood, Childbearing, and Childlessness in Contemporary Hungary: ‘Well, somehow, everyone turns fruitful.’

Abstract

This study examines the constructions of meanings attached to the concepts of ‘childlessness’, ‘childbearing’ and ‘motherhood’ articulated in interviews about female childlessness published in the volume Women without Children as well as in demographic policies on population in Hungary. I explore the discursive links between the functionalist meanings of demography, the pro-natalist population policy, and their articulations in the interviews. I argue that the particular demographic studies and the population policy discourse reinforce each other and effectively maintain the existing gender inequalities. My study also shows the ways the official pro-natalist narrative legitimizes family support policies that favor (upper) middle-class married couples in contemporary Hungary.