Mother Dearest

It is well known that women have been expected to mother for centuries. Mothering is a social construct that is still widely accepted in many cultures. Nancy Chodorow examines women's roles in her book, "The Reproduction of Mothering". Chodorow discusses how the women's role is centered on child care and taking care of men.

While men's social location is in the public, women's social location is domestic. This only adds to the separation between men and women, causing the public to be seem as a more masculine setting while the home is seen as feminine. The combination of the feminine household and the masculine public leads to the further separation of the genders and their roles.

Mothering is a vicious circle. The daughter grows up and learns from her mother that is the women's role to raise the children and please the husband. While the son grows up to learn from his father's lead, going out into the public and earning to support his family. The only way to break this vicious circle is to start with the children. However, because this has been a social construct for hundreds of years now, it would be nearly impossible to break this social standard.