Is there a common attitude society has towards women, and their roles as mothers? Betty Rollin, American journalist, reporter, and author, believes there is. She calls it the motherhood myth. She writes about this subject in her essay, “Motherhood: Who Needs It?” The myth is the idea that all normal women want and need to become mothers (Rollin 286). Rollin believes this is false, and argues that there is no biological drive or instinct, that makes women want to become mothers. Society reinforces this myth into us, through many forms of propaganda. Rollin argues against the belief that women’s most important role in life is to become a wife, and mother. She calls for the freedom to choose, and explains that becoming a mother is not an obligation you must fulfill, but a choice you must determine thoughtfully. Rollin also discusses the many reasons why motherhood is not a path many would like to follow, and lists the numerous adverse effects it has. While Rollin presents professional perspectives, and several evidences from reliable sources, there are many areas she ignores that do not support her point. Jessica Hopkins, a college student, points some of them out in her essay, “When Babies Aren’t Enough: Analysis of Motherhood: Who Needs It”. Hopkins believes that Rollin's passage was extreme, and might be viewed as ridiculous by the average women. She states that while society influences us in many ways, a mothers desire to have children is not one of them. (Hopkins par. 5) In her article, Rollin specifically mentions the false presumptions that mothering is a biological instinct. Psychoanalyst, Dr. Frederick, is quoted saying “When a woman says with feeling that she craved her baby from within, she is putting into biological lang... ... middle of paper ... ...wn, women didn’t have all the opportunities they have today. Rollin’s article was written in the 1970, and she fights the battles they had to fight back then, one of them being the belief that women must be confided to raising children as their only purpose in life. She argues for the right to choose. However, Rollin takes an extreme stance when she declares that we should stop procreating, and that mothers are miserable. There were many areas that she ignored that would have otherwise contradicted her arguments. Works Cited Hopkins, Jessica. “When Babies Aren’t Enough: Analysis of Motherhood: Who Needs It?”. http://www.jmu.edu/evision. James Madison University. April 2013. Web. 4 Apr. 2014 Rollin, Betty. “Motherhood: Who Needs It?” The Norton Reader. 13th ed. ED. Linda Peterson, et al. New York: W.W Norton & Company, Inc., 2012. 286-295. Print.
Sanger continues backing her statement with the examples in education, labor, and that the church had caused women to be looked down upon. Sanger spoke on principles of Birth Control, they include: “it should be available to every adult, that every user should be taught how to use it correctly, that women should have the right to control their bodies and whether to have children.” (Jenson, 166). If Wardell would have included some specifics from Sanger’s speeches, the argument would have been made
Dahlan, Hannah. "Older Mothers: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly!" Pregnancy, Birth and Beyond. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Apr. 2014.
“When a motherhood becomes the fruit of a deep yearning, not the result of ignorance or accident, its children will become the foundation of a new race." (Margaret Sanger, 1) Margaret Sanger, known as the founder of birth control, declared this powerful statement. It is reality that the rights that are customary for women in the twentieth century have been the product of the arduous physical and mental work of many courageous women. These individuals fought for the right for women to be respected in both mind and body by bestowing on them the rights to protect their femininity and to gain the equivalent respect given to men. A remarkable woman named Margaret Sanger is the individual who incredibly contributed to the feministic revolution that took place in the 1920’s. Her legacy of making the right to use birth control legal for woman is a precedent in history for the foundation of the equal rights battle that is still being fought today. By giving control back to the women in their sexuality, Margaret Sanger also restored confidence in those women who felt that their lives revolved around pregnancy. She has become an influential icon to women all around the world who enjoy the security of birth control that gives them the freedom in their sexuality on a daily bases.
She also appeals to the ethos at the very end of the speech by identifying three separate and conflicting social classes that are based on intelligence and wealth. She describes the first class as being “intelligent and wealthy members of the upper classes who have obtained knowledge of birth control and exercise it in regulating the size of their families.” She then compares the highest class to the mid-level group by saying they too are “equally intelligent and responsible” but can not gain knowledge and therefore can not plan their families. By comparing the first two alone it appeals to ethics as two groups with equal knowledge and wealth should both have knowledge and control over the size of their families. She ties in the last group by saying that the lowest group is “irresponsible and reckless” and states that this group reproducing in large numbers is bad for society as it will spread disease and the increase in size of this “feeble-minded” group.
Women throughout time have been compelled to cope with the remonstrances of motherhood along with society’s anticipations
Sorensen, J., & Abbott, E. (2004). The Maternity and Infancy Revolution. Maternal & Child Health Jounal, 8(3), 107-110. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=14089739&site=ehost-live
This article was my least favorite article out of these set of readings. The author explains how much pain and suffering women went thought before and during the 1930’s. Being a mother and a wife women went thought a lot due to the lack of resources. Margret Sanger explains how women are having risk pregnancies which cause them to become ill. Women wanted ways to stop having babies. However the doctors were basically saying it was not up to the husband. Overall I agree with Sanger, women should be informed of contraception and their bodies.
6 Santovec, M. L. (2012, 08). Covey's 7 habits can guide working mothers. Women in Higher
Sanger, Margaret. "The Morality of Birth Control." Gifts of Speech. Smith College, 2012. Web. 15 Dec. 2013.
to the conclusion at one point that the whole thing was hopeless because it is a biological fact women have babies and that is always a career breaker. I end this paper rather disappointed that now, as it was centuries ago,are allowing their lives to be run by male views and stereotypes. The world is moving forward but unless women stop allowing
When I was a teen, my mother gave birth to two children, a female (Tamber) and a male (Avery), nineteen months apart. As the two became more mature, my parent’s desire to place each child in the
It has been extremely complicated for working mothers both, to take care of their children appropriately and work. “Government had created federal or state programs for childcare, women who had work in the law-wage sector, usually lose their jobs when their children require urgent attention. These situations make them reconsider their plans on becoming a mother” (Rosen, 3 of 7).
As history and technology changes, the pre conceived notion, and mold for a woman’s role in society is drastically redesigned in accordance to what becomes deemed as socially accepted. From even as current as years of adolescence the “traditional” role of a housewife was instilled in youth, but when factors such as technology, and the economic collapse, these traditional roles were quickly discarded. Women now had to grasp the concept of supporting a family, and in some instances coming home to a stay at home husband due to lack of job demand, and with the rapid growth in technology and inescapable access to technology younger generations of women are no longer depending nor fixed on the notion of fulfilling a traditional mold. Instead with
Most of women with children need to find the balance between work and family. In most families, mothers have to use more time to take care of their kids than fathers do. “About four-in-ten working mothers (42%) say that at some point in their working life, they had reduced their hours in order to care for a child or other family member, while just 28% of working fathers say they had done the same” (Parker, 2015) So these mothers cannot only focus on their work and career. Pregnancy is a question that need to be taken into consideration for women who want to have their first or another baby. Pregnancy will reduce their efficiency and also keep women from work. Therefore, “many employers often hesitate to recruit women as they feel that pregnancy may keep them away from work.”(Shukla,
Ramona T. Mercer is the theorist credited for developing the theory of Maternal Role Attainment, which is also known as the theory of Becoming a Mother. “Maternal role attainment is an interactional and developmental process occurring over time in which a mother becomes attached to her infant, acquires competence in the caretaking tasks involved in the role, and expresses pleasure and gratification in the role (Tomey & Alligood, 2006, p. 608). Mercer’s career has been primarily focused in pediatrics, obstetrics, and maternal-child nursing. Mercer’s greatest accolades have been based on her extensive research on the topic of maternal role and development (Tomey & Alligood, 2006, p. 605).