Motherhood And Motherhood

Households were strictly patriarchal in which the man of the house made all the important decisions. Women's jobs at the time were mostly relegated to domestic service and occasional work at harvest time. The jobs were always of low pay, low status, and required little training. In addition to this females were not legally permitted to inherit land or property. This was the bleak life of a woman, with little hope or power, and always the subordinate of men.

Motherhood was an expected part of the wife’s life. Woman would have a large number of babies right after each other although some babies would not survive. “High mortality rates must have overshadowed the experience of motherhood in ways difficult to

There were numerous powerful testimonies and striking findings noted throughout the and first two chapters of the book Birth Matters by Ina May Gaskin. As a health care provider, and therefore someone who is entrusted to care for individuals during their most private and sacred times, I found Gaskin’s statements regarding the environment and care surrounding birth experiences very impactful. According to Gaskin (2011), the “women’s perceptions about their bodies and their babies’ capabilities will be deeply influenced by the care they recieve around the time of birth” (p. 22). The statements made by Gaskin in Birth Matters not only ring true, but inspires one

The men don’t usually work and are expected to watch the children (hence the term “housebound”) so they don’t have any access to money. They are made to be fully dependent on their woman. Even when engaging in sexual activity there are permissible positions and others that are regarded as dirty or deviant because the man is in control, which is unacceptable. It’s very interesting because the same can be said of modern society today. Women often have little access to financial means and have long since been expected to stay home with the children and let the husband work. This can actually be better explained when looked at on the macro-level. Though this book isn’t about a nation it’s fairly well-spread and established that women are in control of everything. There are some societies that differ in the treatment of men but it’s still a matriarchal situation.

However, one of the most interesting concepts is how these mothers contribute to the ways in which their daughters develop their own identities and individual practices that enable them to mother themselves. More specifically, how they learn to doctor wounds, process emotions and thought, and care for themselves in all aspects of life. Therefore,

Many people describe the role as a mother and a wife as something that is to be welcomed, a natural stage for women. However for the narrator, it changed from something seemingly beautiful to “old foul, bad...” Motherhood to her is then what creative women were to other people during the 19th century. Creativity was natural for the narrator, unlike motherhood; it was part of her being. Motherhood however, was a prison of domestic

To explain, in both the pre-industrial and urban industrial periods men were pushed into and dominant in public life, whereas women were pushed into and expected to be in the private sphere, commonly the household. In both periods, the gender roles of men expected them to be the “money-earners” as well as the heads and decision-makers of families. On the other hand, gender roles of women expected them to stay home to raise and nurture children as well as do the household work as the domestic servants of the families. Though there were comparisons between both historical periods, there was a significant difference for women in the urban industrial period as some women, specifically widows began to work, though their gender roles reckoned them to be in the private sphere. Additionally, in the urban industrial period when the men went off to war, women replaced their roles and would also work in the public sphere to provide financial support to their families. Not to mention, there were contrasts between both historical periods when viewing family size and form. In pre-industrial times, monogamous marriages and living with extended families were the norm as religion viewed marriage as sacred and private, as well as assistance was required in establishing cottage industries

Over the years, the role of mother in the life of their children has been crucial and prominent. The child’s first education starts at home with their mother. The mother teaches the child how to walk, how to talk, and how to become a strong man or woman in the society. Some mothers will even stop going to work in order to take care of their kids so that they can be a better person and a good citizen.

The modern world is in the midst of reconstructing gender roles; debates about contraception, reproductive freedom, and female inequality are contentious and common. The majority now challenges the long established assertion that women’s bodies are the eminent domain of patriarchal control. In the past, a woman’s inability to control her reproductive choices could come with ruinous consequences. Proponents of patriarchal control argue against reproductive independence with rhetoric from religious texts and with anecdotes of ‘better days,’ when women were subservient. Often, literature about childbearing fails to acknowledge the possibility of women being uninterested in fulfilling the role of motherhood.

During the long nineteenth century, political revolutions, industrialization, and European imperialism resulted in dramatic changes in the role of women in Western Europe and Eastern Asia. As industrialization spread in Western Europe, women were no longer able to fulfill their dual role as a mother and a worker. After the introduction of industrialization, laborious tasks were moved from the household to factories and women were forced to choose either the life of a mother or the life of a worker. Women who chose to leave their households were subjected to harsh conditions, low wages, and long hours. The majority of married and middle-class women were confined to the home, and deprived of an education and civil rights. Unlike the

There are several parenting styles which guide children throughout their life. These parenting styles can be either good or bad and this will have an effect on the child; either a positive or a negative one. This essay investigates the parenting styles from which emerge questions about the role of the mother and the father. It also focuses on the ways that either too much mothering or too much fathering might have an effect on the child’s identity later on in its life.

Female Restraints by Society Throughout history, women have been victims of stereotyping of their society and have been treated as second class citizens. They had to obey strict rules and certain ideals of women’s images have to be kept. As it is described by the Napoleonic Code, “women were controlled by their husbands and couldn’t freely do what they want without the authority of their husband”, also that was the idea of the traditional role of a man and a woman that most people had agreed on in the 18th century. Traditional roles, like men, considered to be the provider for the family and have more power than women because of the fact that they earned money.

Societal perceptions of motherhood in North America have changed drastically over the last century and continue to change. Due to prescribed traditional gender roles, the concept of motherhood has historically been latent in the concept womanhood, in that a woman’s ability to reproduce was seen to be an inherent part of her identity. Thus there existed societal pressures not only for women to become mothers, but to fit into the impossible standard of being the “perfect mother”. However, as the feminist movement gained more ground and women were increasingly incorporated into the workforce, these traditional views of gender roles and in turn motherhood were challenged. As the family dynamics that exist today are much more diverse, what

"Voluntary motherhood implies a new morality—a vigorous, constructive, liberated morality. That morality will, first of all, prevent the submergence of womanhood into motherhood. It will set its face against the conversion of women into mechanical maternity and toward the creation of a new race." (Sanger, Woman and the New Race)

Many different aspects of life characterize motherhood. Traditions along with society influence the role of motherhood. Carol Stacks' "All our Kin," is an essay about the "structuring of kin groups" (1974, p.47). In the society, if the mother is not mature enough to raise the child, a close female relative takes on the role of the mother; whereas, the man has the option of choosing to claim the child and take on the responsibilities of fatherhood or he can imply that the father could be anyone, which is a socially acceptable reason. Ruth Horowitz' "The Expanded Family and Family Honor," portrays a Mexican Family as a "nuclear family unit" within an "expanded family" (1983, p.64). After marriage, motherhood is an expected