Whilst there is research evidence on the consequences of involuntary childlessness in majority ethnic communities in the UK and other more developed societies, and also a growing literature on the experiences of infertile women in less well-resourced countries, there is a dearth of research exploring the potential impact of ethnicity and culture on the experience of infertility within Western societies.To begin to address this lacuna, this thesis was designed to exlore the social meanings of infertility in British South Asian communities, and the infertility experiences of individual South Asian women. The study used a qualitative, interpretive approach, and employed a multiple method design. The first phase of the study consisted of 13 single gender focus groups with a total of 87 participants of Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi ethnic origin, which explored public perceptions of involuntary childlessness and attitudes towards infertility treatments. The second phase of the study included in-depth interviews with 15 individuals of South Asian ethnic origin who had experience of infertility.