Women were expected to produce children. It was important for society to build up its numbers, and for men to have heirs and workers. A woman's value to her husband decreased if she wasn't able to conceive. She could, however, claim to be a mother if her maidservant could produce children by having sexual relations with her husband. Such an arrangement provided an acceptable solution to the problem of childless marriages. However, only women of wealthy families had maidservants. When Sarah believed she would never have Abraham's child, she sent him her handmaid Hagar. The child of Abraham and Hagar was Ishmael. Also, when rachel couldn't initially bear a child with Jacob, she encouraged him to lie with her hand maid Bilhah. The union produced two boys, Dan and Naphtali, who then became leaders of two of the tribes of Israel. A poor childless woman, who did not have a handmaiden, had no options. Her husband often summarily divorced her.

In the larger Hebrew society, childless couples were often pitied, whereas families with large households of children were favored, especially if those children were male. Leah, wife of Jacob, bore him many children, yet she taunted her sister Rachel for not having any babies.