Abstract:

This qualitative study was conducted to understand and explain the perceptions, interpretations, and encounters of rural women with representations of motherhood and fertility on Instagram. Adopting a qualitative approach and employing thematic analysis, the study explored the perceptions, emotions, and agentive strategies of rural women in encountering content related to motherhood and childbearing on Instagram. Data were collected through semi-structured in-depth interviews with 10 married women from the village of Galehban (Marand County, East Azerbaijan Province, Iran). Participants were selected through purposive sampling based on criteria of theoretical saturation, maximum variation in age and number of children, holding at least a high school diploma, and daily Instagram use of at least one hour. The data were analyzed using Braun and Clarke's six-phase thematic analysis model. The findings revealed that rural women perceive representations of motherhood and fertility through three main thematic patterns: first, the commodification and degradation of motherhood, reproduced through exaggerated displays, detachment from the rural lifeworld, and silence regarding childbearing; second, social comparison and spatial inequality, leading to relative deprivation, psychological pressure, and the highlighting of urban-rural differences in motherhood; and third, the critical agency of rural women, encompassing selective consumption, rejection of media ostentation, conscious self-censorship, and the redefinition of motherhood based on local values. The findings indicate that rural women are not passive recipients; rather, through critical interpretation, resistant practices, and active meaning-making, they adopt an agentive stance against conflicting and degrading representations of motherhood. This interpretive agency is most vividly manifested in the third theme-critical agency-and underscores the capacity of rural women to generate alternative meanings and challenge media stereotypes.

Keywords: Motherhood, Rural Women, Social Media, Instagram, Media Representation.