Dichotomy On Motherhood

CHAPTER TWO

MOTHERHOOD – A FEMINIST PERSPECTIVE Dated : (13.08.2015)

MOTHERHOOD – A FEMINIST PERSPECTIVE To be able to comprehend the journey that the feminist liberation movement has undertaken, ever since it came into existence, a brief overview of the feminist movement is imperative. It is also important to understand why motherhood is an important issue for the feminists and the impact of motherhood on womanhood. It is only then that a clear picture of the issues related to motherhood and their role in fostering gender - dichotomy can be studied. In order to understand the twin related issues - womanhood and motherhood and the role of the feminist movement. This chapter has been divided into two parts. The first part deals with

She supported the belief that motherhood in itself was not derogatory or damaging. But when women do not acquire proper formal education, because of then duty as mother or wives then they suffer from loss of self-esteem and dignity.

Wollstonecraft states that women should not sacrifice themselves at the altar of motherhood. Wollstonecraft says, “To be a mother a woman must have sense, and that independence of mind which few woman possess, who are taught to depend entirely on their husbands. Such wives are foolish mothers”(106). Therefore she wants cherry woman to lift herself from the state of degradatish to which they have been reduced and empower to which they have been reduced and empower themselves so that they can empower themselves and their children to lead fulfilling lives.

The liberationists of the 1980’s and 1990’s also regarded motherhood and mothering as sheer wastage of powerful feminist energy, in the home and the household which they viewed as an area of “ arrested social development.” (Mitchell and Oakley

But the ‘psychological aspect involves multiple issues in it, that need to be listed before a comprehensive study of its impact on motherhood can be conducted. As has already been discussed in the previous chapter in detail, the psychological aspect is a two faced aspect, as it deals on the one hand with the biological state of a mother’s mind and on the other hand the effect of the psychological state, and its impact on her children. Because it is this maternal influence on the child’s mind that leads to further gender-prejudices. Since the psychological aspect is a cyclical process that sets the whole issue of the mother –child- daughter-mother relationship into a vicious cycle, therefore a specific starting point to begin the discussion becomes difficult to establish. Let us begin with a young girl, and study this circle as girl-mother-girl. When a little girl is brought up by her family, especially the mother, she is made to wear frocks and skirts that distinguish her from the boys who wear pants and shorts, she is given dolls and teddy bears to play with, she mother’s them as she imitates her own mother’s mothering; she is asked to behave in a dainty and docile manner. She is brought up with extra care to inculcate in her tender, passionate and affectionate temperament and is