the problematics of motherhood in twentieth century women's fiction

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By emphasizing the primacy of motherhood, society closes
other alternatives for women -- motherhood has to take
precedence over everything else Maternlty, therefore,
becomes woman's destlny, and a childless woman is
emotionally suspect If her childlessness 1s wllled, she 1s
consldered deviant and abnormal, or self-centered and
unwomanly To have chlldren but turn over thelr rearing to
someone else brlngs soclal disapproval a woman who does
thls is consldered hard, unlovlng and 'unfemlnlne' It was
flnnly belleved that chrld-rearlng practices too stem from
women's nature
2.1.2. Femlnlne motherhood inslsts that a woman can know
fulfilment only at the moment of givlng birth to a child
It denles the woman her feminlnlty when she can no longer
look forward to glvlng blrth According to Theodore Lltz,
an Amerlcan psychlatrlst.
unless her womb has been fllled, her breasts
suckled The woman's creatlvlty as a mother
becomes a central matter that provldes meanlng and
balance to her life lclted In Oakley 1976 1871
Motherhood, therefore, has a blologlcal substrate
Bearlng
chlldren becomes the flrst lmperatlve for women, while the
second ~mperatlve is assumlng soclal and psychological
responslblllty for them
A mother 1s not lust the woman who