Motherhood at the Crossroads

Meeting the Challenge of a Changing Role

Author: Sue Lanci Villani
ISBN: 9780306455667

Motherhood at the Crossroads: Meeting the Challenge of a Changing Role examines the many enduring myths of motherhood and how they conflict with reality. At a stage in their lives when most women expect to find great joy and satisfaction - the motherhood years - they instead experience tremendous disappointment and despair. Ms. Villani and Ms. Ryan, experts in the cultural changes concerning motherhood and family, insightfully point out how women's performance as mothers often doesn't match their expectations, thereby causing intense feelings of shame and guilt. Although it is important to take the role seriously, the authors say it is not healthy to buy into the cultural myth of the "perfect" mother. Through two decades of personal in-depth interviews with hundreds of mothers from across the United States, the authors explore the Mother Crisis as a condition that is killing women's spirits. This surprisingly frank work tells their stories so that many others can better understand the

Publisher: Insight Books
Publish Date: 1997

Subjects: Social Science / Women's Studies

This book is available in the following Community Centers: Women's Center (Location: Parenting)