In an ancestral village of Punjab, a young bride was being welcomed open-heartedly. Fairy lights glowed against the dark brick walls, music echoed through the courtyard, and the scent of fresh roses drifted through the breeze.

Ayesha arrived like a blessing.

Her in-laws adored her.
Her husband, Ahmad, was kind and gentle.
It seemed as if happiness had moved into the house with her.
. . .
Until it didn’t.

One year passed.
Then two.

The laughter in the house faded.
Smiles turned into silence.
Compliments turned into whispers.

And the women of the village began gossiping.

The problem was simple in the eyes of society:
Ayesha had not given the family a child.

The clock kept ticking for years, but nothing changed for Ayesha and Ahmad.

One evening, her mother-in-law finally broke the silence.

“Ayesha beti… my eyes are desperate to see my grandchild. My ears cannot wait a year longer to hear his babble.”

Ayesha’s throat tightened. She could not speak.

The truth was something she hadn’t been able to tell anyone:
Her obstetrician had recently discovered that she had a septate uterus – a wall
dividing her uterus, preventing a pregnancy from developing properly.

But to Ayesha, it felt like this “wall” was not only inside her body – it was now
dividing her marriage, her home, and her identity.

The marriage began to crumble quickly after that. Ahmad started to grow distant -colder with each passing day.

One evening, Ayesha overheard him telling his mother that he was filing for divorce.

In that moment, her heart sank. What had once felt like a fairytale had slowly
transformed into her worst nightmare.

The constant snide remarks from her in-laws eventually pushed Ayesha out of her own home and back to her parents’ house. In a single moment, everything she had built collapsed.
Her married life ended, while Ahmad had begun a new one.

The world never gave her a chance to explain that infertility is a medical condition, not a moral failure.

Instead, she felt doomed to spend the rest of her life as a burden to her parents – unwanted, unaccepted, unseen.

It was a harsh truth, but a reality many women silently live.

Reality Check:

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), about 1 in 6 people worldwide experience infertility during their lifetime.

In Pakistan, an estimated 15–20% of married couples face infertility, yet awareness remains low and stigma high.

Studies in South Asia show that nearly one in three marriages affected by infertility face separation or remarriage pressures, often targeting the woman unfairly.

Takeaway Message

Women struggling with infertility deserve compassion, respect, and a place in society. They are not machines built to produce children.
Their value does not depend on motherhood, marriage, or fertility.
Their worth lies simply in being human.