1 Childlessness: perceptions, acceptability and the gender dimension Authors: Latifat Ibisomi and Netsayi Noris Mudege Session: 409 – Childlessness Extended abstract: Childlessness has major psychological and social implications for couples and especially for women in settings where fertility is highly valued (Van Balen and Bos, 2001). In such settings, childlessness is usually involuntary. Involuntary childlessness may be caused by infertility, pregnancy loss, stillbirth or child death (Van Balen, 2000). This paper focuses on both voluntary and involuntary childlessness. Despite the importance of the issue, not many studies on voluntary childlessness have been carried out in Africa. Most available studies on this topic are based on America and Western European societies. Our definition of voluntary childlessness follows Chancey and Dumais’s (2009) definition of voluntarily childless women, to apply to both fertile men and women who have never had children, desire to remain childless and without any underlying assumption that they are advantaged or disadvantaged in relation to those with children. The meaning of, and reaction to childlessness is mediated by socio-cultural factors, which vary widely among societies. In Sub Saharan Africa the traditional belief systems based on continuity of lineages place a high premium on fertility Van Zandvoort and De Koning, 2001; Donkor and Sandall, 2007; Caldwell and Caldwell, 1987). As a result the perception of people regarding childlessness especially in a woman, whose primary function is considered childbearing and whose economic and social status is often hinged on their ability to have children, is often derogatory and judgmental. Whatever the cause, as a result of existing social and gender norms, women are often blamed if a couple is childless. A women may suffer any or a combination of the following as a result of being childless - distress, depression, lowered self-esteem, social stigma, open ridicule, isolation, economic deprivation, physical violence, threats from husbands and husbands’ family, rejection, abandonment and divorce McQuillan et al, 2003; Unisa, 1999; Pearce, 1999). Studies have also shown that infertile women suffer more health complaints including sexual dysfunction compared to fertile women (Waziri-erameh and Omoti, 2006).