maternal ambivalence
motherhood, maternal ambivalence, social representations, gender roles
Throughout Western history, the identity of women has been intertwined with a romanticized and idealized conception of motherhood, shaped by religion, medicine, philosophy and culture in general. Despite significant social advances, contemporary society continues to struggle with recognizing the mother-woman beyond the ideal of perfection, acknowledging her as someone capable of experiencing ambivalent feelings toward motherhood. On this account, this research aims to investigate the social representations of the mother-woman and maternal ambivalence, based Abric’s Central Core Theory, seeking to identify possible distinctions between the social representations of woman who are mother and those who aren’t. This research will be predominantly qualitative in nature and intends to include the participations of 200 cis adult woman, divided into two groups: 100 mothers and 100 non-mothers.