if the fifth house is empty, i.e. has no planets, will that make the woman automatically barren”?

Not at all, but much will depend on “external circumstances”, such as:

– where the ruler of the fifth house is in her natal chart, and what aspects does it make towards the other planets in the chart;

– are there some transits to the fifth house or its ruler that could be favourable,

– synastry, what do planets of her partner do when transposed into her chart,

– the horoscope of the first contact or the marriage itself; sometimes it is possible to define the horoscope of the marriage so that the woman is helped out by the planets in the marriage chart.

There are many interactions such as these, and analysing them in horoscopes of barren women and barren wifes takes time and experience, which is exactly why reading horoscopes is or can be a profession.

And this is all about the fifth house and the first pregnancy: if the first pregnancy took place but did not result in giving birth, then we concentrate on the seventh house and its ruler.  That is why I always ask first how many pregnancies have already happened:  sometimes the woman will ask about the second child that she would like to have while never mentioning that she already has had one child, which would mislead me as her astrologer of choice.

There may be other factors in play, for instance, karmic debts will also make a childless woman, but I’ll leave that for another post, on getting pregnant and karma.