Lives Without Lineage

Issues related to infertility or infecundity, and women suffering the stigma of anachronism post menopause, are a growing global concern, exacerbated by societies that heavily privilege reproductive capacity, as defining a woman’s worth, invalidating those who remain unmothered as culturally unseen. The primary aim of this study is to explore the interactions of reproductive agency and psychosocial marginality in the selected works of Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni and Amy Tan. Situating itself within psychoanalytic theory and Gerontological feminism, this study explores how infertility, non-biological parenting, and surrogate caregiving upset the normative axis of traditional mothering. The study also establishes that the post-menopausal female body is a site of symbolic devaluation and psychic erasure, unmasking how bodies bereft of reproductive utilities disrupt the sociocultural and narrative agency of maternal viability. It strives to deconstruct the reductive dichotomies of fertility/infertility, young/old, and biological/non-biological mothers, proposing mothering as a dynamic and evolving experience. This analysis advances Nancy Chodorow’s psychoanalytic framework by embedding it within the intersecting context of ageing, culture, and diaspora, expanding its applicability to non-normative maternal experiences in diasporic literature. Foregrounding reproductive deviances and ageing within the broader discourses of reproductive justice, this work contributes to contemporary gender scholarship following the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals of Good Health and Well-Being (SDG 3), Gender Equality (SDG 5), and Reduced Inequalities (SDG 10), advocating for a more inclusive understanding of femininity. The findings of this study showcase their works as reflective mirrors of the discriminatory sociocultural norms on women’s infertility and ageing.