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OAPlanning Trips not Weddings
Intersecting Single and Childfree Women of Colour
- Amsterdam University Press
- Source: Tijdschrift voor Genderstudies, Volume 28, Issue 2/3, Sep 2025, p. 151 - 170
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- 01 Sep 2025
Abstract
The framing of singleness as a decision and lifestyle is a relatively new social phenomenon. In this article, I argue for singlehood to be described as an independent social category and identity, not just a relationship status. This argument also allows for a more intersectional approach to discussing singleness, race, gender, and age, as single studies have mainly remained homogenous, focusing on white European and North American women. Historically, the experiences of marriage and motherhood have been dissimilar for women of colour (WOC) in comparison to their white counterparts. My research focuses on the historical and cultural positionality of Women of Colour and how single and childfree WOC construct their identity through their personal experiences and is rooted in self-reliance. These women, who have remained single and childfree, have a distinct point of view, and their narratives can demonstrate how patriarchy, capitalism, and heterogender family structures operate. My research centres on Women of Colour who are not defined by whom they marry or the children they raise. They are creating their own identities, defining their happiness, and using travel as a form of feminist praxis.