Reflections on motherhood: an exploratory study with women over 40 years

Abstract

This article presents an exploratory descriptive study of qualitative character, who seeks to understand how the notion of maternity is perceived and experienced by women, emphasizing experiences of liberation and captivity, as per Burlae’s Theory of Mindful Space (2004). Via the biographical interview proposed by Gersick & Kram (2002), six women over the age of 40 described their lives in the past, present and future. The analysis of results was conducted using the Discourse Analysis proposed by Gill (2002), basing itself on epistemological assumptions from studies of gender, feminine perspective, Lenvinson´s Development Theory (1996) and systemic vision. The results show that the conceptions and experiences of maternity are diverse and complex, presenting different implications in the lives of women. More conservative perspectives interact with more critical views of the mother-woman relationships.