The forces of pronatalism are significant to women as it is the philosophy responsible for the persistent idea that a woman’s destiny and ultimate fulfilment is entrenched in childbearing and motherhood. Furthermore, pronatalism focuses on the advantages of having children while minimizing the disadvantages (Veevers). It creates the mother hood mandate the idea that regardless of whatever she chooses to do in life, a woman’s role must involve maternity (Russo,1976). Pronatalism comes at women from every angle, from the religious command to mother, to psychological theories which define maternity as a requirement for healthy female psychological development (Daniluk, 1999). Similarly it is at work in the media, on television and in
This chapter analyses the polar opposition between those who consider maternal love as an innate instinct that all females share, and those who regard it as a cultural construct. The first part of the chapter analyses the evolution of the concept of maternal love from the eighteenth century to the present, to later consider its representation in different areas, such as psychoanalysis, and popular culture. The main aim of the chapter is to determine the ways in which the definition of what constitutes ‘natural’ mothering patterns has become static in our culture, and identify the distinctive characteristics of both good and bad mothers. This will be done by focusing on the growing prominence given to the figure of the mother in psychoanalysis,
Historically, the concept has been central to the African reality. This notion has evolved through time both as a concept and institution in and outside of the African continent. The underlying objective of the (re)conceptualization of motherhood lies in the importance of its re-interpretation from the African perceptive and the analysis of whether or not the conception of ‘motherhood’ can empower women to be visible in other areas of human endeavor? A leading scholar, Remi Akujobi, transcends the conventional definition of motherhood, conventionally understood as an “automatic set of feelings and behaviors that is switched on by pregnancy and birth of a baby” and explores the socially constructed meanings, religious mythologies and the dominant western perspective on motherhood. The central point of her work assumes that motherhood takes different names and forms depending on the society that is practicing it.
They argued that women considering their physical difference alone are innately closer to nature and mother earth. The unique biological events which are solely experienced by women like pregnancy, lactation, menstruation, etc enable the female psyche to transcend the abstract realm of male reason and the civilization which is based on it to a higher empathy with the world of matter. Irigaray ties etymologically the word matter with maternity and matrix and proposes that women are innately more attuned to identify themselves with nature and see their mere sustenance in maintenance and preservation of earth. They support the extermination of destructive weapons produced and sustained by an aggressive self-assertive male subject that views the material world around as an external object which needs to be gratuitously overcome. On the other hand a male subject is required to cut its ties with feminine parts of his essence to acquire the license for his initiation into a male constructed civilization with its male philosophical speculation and abstract
These are things surrogates need to consider before they become a surrogate because some cons of surrogacy, would include how complicated, emotional and stressful it may be. Of course you will have an attachment to the baby because you carried the baby for nine months and have gone through all out it. But you are fulfilling the deep seated wish for those who cannot have a
Through out history, various instances and attempts have been made to construct motherhood, both socially, as well as culturally. Women were chained to their homes, by the unwritten laws of the society. These laws were disguised as the various rituals customs and traditions. As has already been discussed motherhood roles got defined and became more gender specific during the period of industrialization, even though they were there during the pre-industrialization era, when people shifted from the agrarian to the capitalist economy Industrialization and nuclear families brought about new roles and power centres within the family, which deprived women of even those rights that they
As mentioned above, the limitation of role in family has historically influenced how women play in society because of men and women play differently in reproduction. Still, some societies value women based on the ability to bear and raise children, which becomes the core value of women’s lives. Though it is already 21st centuries, the world has changed from an agrarian to an industrial society that people have begun having children at much lower rates and women played a more important role in labour force, things have not changed much (Inglehart & Norris, 2003). People still keep in mind that good women should be responsible for taking good care of children and family. The inerasable mind-set is actually deeply imprinted by our
Feminist have challenged patriarchal knowledge, ideology, values and its practice. Despite a range of common themes within feminists in understanding patriarchy,some of the feminists do not like the term ‘Patriarchy’ for various reasons, so that they prefer the term “Gender” and “Gender Oppression”. Michele Barrett argues that the term patriarchy assumes that the relation of men and women is unchanging and universalistic. She suggested that it can only be appropriate if it defined very narrowly and refers to specific aspects of ideological relations which those of Father- Daughter relationship (Barrett 1980). The use of term often involves confusion between ‘Patriarchy’ as men’s domination of women.
These representations and expectations of motherhood continuously change as they adapt to the changing socio cultural context (Porter and Kelso, 2006 as cited by (Goodwin, S., & Huppatz, K.,n.d.). Through research, diversity of women’s experiences of pregnancy, birth, child rearing, care work, and familial roles and responsibilities has been established resulting to the de- naturalization of motherhood and the opening up of the categories woman/mother (Goodwin, S., & Huppatz,
Motherhood is often defined as an automatic set of feelings and behaviors that is switched on by pregnancy and the birth of the baby, it is also seen as moral transformation whereby a woman comes to terms with being different in that she ceases to be an autonomous individual because she is one way or the other attached to another her baby. ( Motherhood in African Literature and Culture." CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture 13.1 (2011): The identity of a woman is formed in relation to the values, meanings and symbols of her society. Her ‘self ‘is affected by the cultural world outside. The meanings and values of the cultural society are internalised.The ideology of motherhood differs according to the socio-cultural context, ethnicity,