Amrita Nandy | Patriarchy, Motherhood, and the Search for Meaning

The Overpopulation Podcast

India has just surpassed China as the most populous country in the world. What role has patriarchal pronatalism played in spurring this growth?

If autonomy is a basic human right, why do many women have little or no choice when it comes to motherhood? Do women know they have a choice? Why roles do patriarchy, religion, and the free market play in institutionalizing marriage and motherhood, and what influence does that have on women's lives and identities? And how might we reimagine the widest sense of family-making and spiritual kinship that includes our love for all humans and more-than-humans? These are some of the questions we explore in this episode with Dr. Amrita Nandy, India-based feminist, research, and writer and author of the book Motherhood and Choice: Uncommon Mothers, Childfree Women.

00:00 Opening 02:56 Introduction 04:24 Researching motherhood 09:58 Definition of maternormativity 11:07 Motherhood, nation, morality 13:07 Motherhood iconography 14:01 Maternormativity, choice, autonomy 16:22 Internalized patriarchy 17:21 Institution of marriage in India 19:42 Interviews with outliers of motherhood 28:30 Unconventional mothers 31:37 Strength of unconventional mothers 34:49 Fertility industry reinforcing biases 36:15 Patrilineal society 36:51 Ethical issues in fertility industry 38:35 Adoption rates in India 41:19 India as global hot spot for baby making 44:39 Ethics of procreation, other beings, environment 49:05 Oxfam report on gender inequality 51:32 Gendered expectation of unpaid care work 53:04 Role of mockery 53:57 Responsibility to care for husband's parents 55:20 Education, caste, economic status - marriage market 1:00:23 Pronatalism and population growth 1:08:37 Wrap up

See episode website for show notes, links, and transcript:

https://www.populationbalance.org/podcast/amrita-nandy

ABOUT US

The Overpopulation Podcast features enlightening conversations between Population Balance Executive Director Nandita Bajaj, cohost Alan Ware, and expert guests. We cover a broad variety of topics that explore the impacts of our expanding human footprint on human rights, animal protection, and environmental restoration, as well as individual and collective solutions. Learn more here: https://www.populationbalance.org/