Discursive Strategies Contributing to Stigma towards Involuntary Childless Women in the Gikùyù Community

Abstract

Positioning women in a situation where motherhood is associated with womanhood has led to stigma towards those who do not have children. They are perceived as outsiders in their communities, and language is used to advance the ideologies that support their discrimination. The use of discursive techniques has been essential in stigmatising and categorising childlessness. Linguistic stigma has been created by language and other ideas. Degrading discourse strategies that are language-based have a significant impact on how childless women are viewed. The paper’s discursive approaches were centred on the stigma that involuntarily childless women in the Gikùyù community experience. The study was informed by Fairclough and Van Dijk’s Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). Different elements like vocabulary, grammatical structure, and semantics ought not to be examined individually, according to CDA and their functions should not be disregarded. The purpose of the study was to assess the discursive techniques stigmatising involuntarily childless women. The study used purposive sampling to choose the villages in the Tetu sub-county, Nyeri County. They were Kǐandu, Ndǔgamano and Kǐgogoinǐ. The researcher used focus group discussions (FGDs) in order to collect data. Twelve involuntarily childless women participated in the FGD as respondents, four in each FGD. The data was then audio recorded, analysed, and categorised into themes. The study will benefit linguists since it will educate them on the extent to which language may be used to stigmatise social groups and prepare them to advocate for language change when needed. This discussion will highlight the connection between language and gender and motivate curriculum designers to include discussions on linguistic stigma, which will benefit researchers who focus on gender issues. Involuntary childless women are stigmatised linguistically according to the study, and these women should rebrand themselves by accepting their situation and reclaiming their identity