The History of The Institution of Mother

The History of the ‘Institution’ of Motherhood
Sophia Brock
Department of Sociology and Social Policy
Faculty of Arts
The University of Sydney
Motherhood
Studies?
  1. The transformation of
motherhood since the 1920s in
the context of ‘mother love’
  2. The women’s movement of

the 1960s and 1970s and
motherhood
  3. The ‘institution’ of
motherhood
  4. The ‘good mother’ concept

“I have read about you and your
wonderful pamphlets…
A year ago last March I gave birth to a

beautiful fat boy and it lived but 3 days.
The doctors claimed the baby had a
leaking heart; he died in convulsions…
This was the first time I became

pregnant in 4 years and you can imagine
how glad & happy I was, only instead of
having him at my breast, the third day
they brought him to the door in his little
casket…”
Mrs W.D Brooklyn to Mary Mills West, The US Children’s Bureau

in “Raising a Baby the Government Way: Mothers’ Letters to the
Children’s Bureau, 1915-1932 by Molly Ladd-Taylor (reviewed
by Charlotte G. Borst, 1988: 156)
1. The
Transformation of
Motherhood
  ‘Moral Motherhood’ –
responsibility of the mother to
raise children into moral citizens
  Primary transmitters of religious

and moral values
  Nurturing, empathetic, caring,

attentive, morally directive
  Mother-blaming
Traditionalists Modernists
  Saintly state women enter into   Some mothers are admirable,
some are not
  Mother’s love has capacity to
transform and redeem   Being a mother means a
woman has gone through
  Motherhood one of the biological experience, not a
strongest pillars of nation’s metamorphosis of self
social and political order
  A mother can and should
pursue interests and activities
beyond her children and her
home
“The modern young
mother cultivates
interests besides her
family and disdains to
wear a halo or carry a
scepter as symbols of
her biological office”
- Recent Graduate of Smith College (1937) in Storet,
V ‘Letters to the New York Times’ New York Times,
November 19, 1937.
-  Women became victims of the
ideal that they would find
fulfillment through raising
children and home making
-  Devaluing of women’s work
-  Oversimplified view of
postwar era
Women not only felt oppressed by the ‘feminine mystique’ that

impacted the way they defined themselves and their achievements, but
they also felt devalued within their traditionalist gendered roles.
2. The Women’s Movement
1960s - 1970s
  “Motherhood is the problem that modern feminists cannot
face.” Sylvia Hewlett, 1986
  Womanhood synonymous with motherhood
  Personal and cultural assumptions that all women are or want

to be mothers
  When it comes to a woman’s sense of identity, whether she is

a mother or not is more powerful than whether she is married
or single, or what type of occupation she is in (Rogers and
White, 1998: 305).
Simone De Beauvoir
-  A woman is robbed of her
individuality when she becomes a
mother
-  Rejects any sense of biological
determinism
-  In order for a woman to enjoy full
individualism she should not
depend on any form of ‘otherness’
ChildFREE - ChildLESS
•  “I’m not a mother but I am maternal… my

infertility is circumstantial but my life is not
barren… you are more powerful than your womb.”
– Melanie Notkin
•  ‘Matricentric Feminism’: feminism with a focus on

issues mothers face
•  Mothers today do far more work with far less

resources – Professor Andrea O’Reilly
3. The Institution of Motherhood
- Adrienne Rich
  The POTENTIAL relationship of

any woman to her powers of
reproduction and the
INSTITUTION which aims at
ensuring that potential
remains under male control
  Power of a woman? The   Attacks motherhood as it is

BIOLOGICAL capacity to bear defined under patriarchy,
children + the magical power rather than mothers or
invested in women by some mothering as a practice
men
4. The ‘Good Mother’ Concept
•  Ideology that sets out ideals, norms and practices that are frequently and
powerfully represented in the media, and subconsciously as well as
deliberately perpetuated in popular culture
•  Sets unattainable standards of perfection for mothering
•  The ‘good mother’ is:

•  Self-sacrificing
•  Not subject to her own needs and interests
•  Completely child centred
•  Generally economically dependent
•  Monogamous
•  White, middle-class and heterosexual
•  Enforced by members of society who aren’t mothers as well as mothers

themselves – power of normative construct
Where to next?
  Mothers “are overwhelmed, fatigued and guilt-ridden

because of the hard work and responsibility that they
alone assume in motherhood…” Andrea O’Reilly
  Empowered mothering – sever ideological

underpinning of patriarchal motherhood to develop
maternal empowerment
  “In contrast to the patriarchal institution of motherhood,

an empowered practice of mothering is one modeled
upon agency” Andrea O’Reilly
  Know where we’re coming from
in order to envisage an
empowered and enlightened
future for mothers
  Includes others who take on a

mothering role – fathers, aunts,
siblings, the government….
Seeing ‘mother’ as a verb
  Recognise and challenge

judgements passed of parenting
techniques; expect and regard
equal participation as normal;
view womanhood and
motherhood as distinct

DiQuinzio, P (1999) The Impossibility of Motherhood: Feminism,
Individualism, and the Problem of Mothering, New York:
Routledge.

Hoffert, S (1989) Private Matters: American Attitudes Toward
Childbearing and Infant Nurture in the Urban North, 1800-1860,
Sophia Brock Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press.
Department of Sociology and
Lazaro, R (1986) ‘Feminism and Motherhood: O’Brien vs
Social Policy
Beauvoir’, Hypatia, 1(2), pp, 87-102.
Faculty of Arts
The University of Sydney Plant, R (2010) Mom: The Transformation of Motherhood in
Modern America, Chicago and London: The University of
Chicago Press.
sbro5827@uni.sydney.edu.au
Snitow, A (1992) ‘Feminism and Motherhood: An American
Reading’, Feminist Review, 40, pp, 32-51.

Storet, V (1937) “Letters to the New York Times”, New York
Times, November 19, 1937 in R. Plant (2010) Mom: The
Transformation of Motherhood in Modern America, Chicago and
London: The University of Chicago Press.

Umansky, L (1996) Feminism and the Legacies of the Sixties, New
York and London: New York University Press.

Vandenberg-Daves, J (2002) ‘Teaching Motherhood in History’,
Women’s Studies Quarterly, 30(3/4), pp, 234-255.

Wearing, B (1984) The Ideology of Motherhood: A Study of
Sydney Suburban Mothers, Sydney: George Allen & Unwin.

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The History of the ‘Institution’ of Motherhood

 2. The women’s movement of

 4. The ‘good mother’ concept

A year ago last March I gave birth to a

This was the first time I became

Mrs W.D Brooklyn to Mary Mills West, The US Children’s Bureau

 Primary transmitters of religious

 Nurturing, empathetic, caring,

- Devaluing of women’s work

Women not only felt oppressed by the ‘feminine mystique’ that

 Womanhood synonymous with motherhood

 Personal and cultural assumptions that all women are or want

 When it comes to a woman’s sense of identity, whether she is

• “I’m not a mother but I am maternal… my

• ‘Matricentric Feminism’: feminism with a focus on

• Mothers today do far more work with far less

 The POTENTIAL relationship of

 Power of a woman? The  Attacks motherhood as it is

• The ‘good mother’ is:

• Enforced by members of society who aren’t mothers as well as mothers

 Mothers “are overwhelmed, fatigued and guilt-ridden

 Empowered mothering – sever ideological

 “In contrast to the patriarchal institution of motherhood,

 Includes others who take on a

 Recognise and challenge

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  2. The women’s movement of

  4. The ‘good mother’ concept

  Primary transmitters of religious

  Nurturing, empathetic, caring,

-  Devaluing of women’s work

  Womanhood synonymous with motherhood

  Personal and cultural assumptions that all women are or want

  When it comes to a woman’s sense of identity, whether she is

•  “I’m not a mother but I am maternal… my

•  ‘Matricentric Feminism’: feminism with a focus on

•  Mothers today do far more work with far less

  The POTENTIAL relationship of

  Power of a woman? The   Attacks motherhood as it is

•  The ‘good mother’ is:

•  Enforced by members of society who aren’t mothers as well as mothers

  Mothers “are overwhelmed, fatigued and guilt-ridden

  Empowered mothering – sever ideological

  “In contrast to the patriarchal institution of motherhood,

  Includes others who take on a

  Recognise and challenge