motherhood continuum
Yesterday was Mother's Day in Poland, and I'd like to share a few thoughts with you.
๐๐ฉ๐บ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฆ'๐ญ๐ญ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐จ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ช๐ต ๐ช๐ง ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฅ๐ด?
๐๐ฉ๐บ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด?
๐๐ฉ๐บ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ช๐ฐ๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ป๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ๐ง๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต?
Women, no matter if they choose to become mothers or not, face societal pressures and expectations.
Not being a mother or not wanting to be a mom doesnโt mean there is anything wrong with us.
Being a mom and wanting to focus on our career or having doubts about our parental capabilities, doesnโt mean there is anything wrong with us.
โRather, it suggests that there is everything wrong with a society that treats women as a monolith as if being born a woman equips us for parenthood.โ*
Ruby Warrington in her book โWomen Without Kidsโ introduces a concept of motherhood spectrum.
โฌ
Affirmative "no" to motherhood means saying yes to our authentic selves, not as an act of rebellion, but as an act of willed self-assertion
โก Affirmative "yes" to motherhood is the full-body, soul-powered, solid-gold knowing that you do want to be a mom
Some women fall on the extremes of that spectrum.
But many women experience a degree of ambivalence about what society sees at โnatural, celebratory YESโ and โselfish, dysfunctional NOโ.
Ambivalence in which, a woman can feel very lonely.
We donโt need to undersign and accept that binary concept of womanhood.
We can change this narrative.
We can foster an understanding and empower each other no matter where we fall on that spectrum.
We can be there for each other, to be true to ourselves ๐
What are your thoughts on the societal pressures women face regarding motherhood, and how can we better support each other in making authentic choices?
*Ruby Warrington โWomen Without Kidsโ