It Is The Women Who Get Blamed Although About 50% Of Infertility Is Male-Driven, Says Fertility Specialist
Infertility must be approached as a shared responsibility, and male fertility should be tested as routinely and as early as female fertility.
Published : November 5, 2025 at 11:08 AM IST
When couples are having trouble conceiving, the initial questions (and frequently the blame) automatically fall on the woman. But science paints a different picture. According to a study published in BMC Public Health, the number of men with infertility globally increased by 76.9% between 1990 and 2019.
“Close to half of all infertility problems globally are related to male causes like low sperm count, reduced motility, or abnormal morphology,” says Dr. Ankur Pandey, Fertility Specialist, Birla Fertility & IVF, Prayagraj. Yet it is the woman who is almost always under scrutiny. A man’s fertility was rarely questioned; masculinity was conflated with virility, and virility was assumed rather than tested. He adds, “Even today, many men hesitate to undergo a simple semen analysis because it feels like a judgement on their manhood, while women are presumed to be the one to take treatments without questions.”
The outcome is double-edged: women bear disproportionate emotional and medical burdens, and couples waste valuable time in their quest to conceive. In many clinics across India, women are the first to undergo exhaustive diagnostic workups, while men are tested later... sometimes months into treatment. “This not only prolongs the couple’s journey but also reinforces the false narrative that infertility is a ‘female issue.’ Fertility is, in fact, a couple’s concern, and evaluation should begin with both partners together,” says Dr. Pandey.
The reality is male infertility is on the increase and rapidly so. Men produce sperm continuously throughout life. This has often been seen as a biological safeguard, but the quality of that production is not immune to age, illness, or lifestyle. And yet, even as these realities unfold, society’s gaze remains fixed on the woman. She is the one internalising guilt that is not hers to bear. Men, meanwhile, may remain silent participants, spared the scrutiny but also denied the chance to address the issue openly and responsibly.
Says Dr. Pandey, “What is needed, therefore, is a reframing of the conversation. Infertility must be approached as a shared responsibility, and male fertility should be tested as routinely and as early as female fertility.” Semen analysis is neither invasive nor costly; it is one of the simplest investigations in reproductive medicine. If couples understood that half the time the difficulty could lie with the man, they would save themselves months, if not years, of unnecessary distress.
For a real transformation of thought, society must dismantle the myths that equate male fertility with masculinity, and female infertility with failure. Doctors have an important role to play here, but so do families, educators, and the media. Every story that challenges old stereotypes helps. Every man who steps up for testing without hesitation chips away at the stigma. Every couple that speaks openly about their journey broadens the space for others to breathe a little easier.
Infertility is not a personal failing. It is a medical issue that can usually be resolved with the correct strategy. When both men and women are equally held responsible, women are released from unwarranted blame, couples feel more secure, and treatment results are a lot better. It is time that society aligned itself with science: infertility is as much a male issue as a female.
References:
- https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-023-16793-3
- https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1110570416300273
- https://rbej.biomedcentral.com/articles/s10.1186/s12958-015-0032-1
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