{{Short description|Female parent}}{{Redirect-several|Mother|Mothers|Mom|Mum|Mothering|Motherhood|Maternity}}(File:Portrait of a woman holding a baby (I0024828).jpg|upright|thumb|Portrait of a woman holding a baby, {{circa|1900|1920}}){{pp-semi|small=yes}}{{pp-move-indef}}File:Cimitero di Staglieno, statue of mother and children-img114.jpg|upright|thumb|Statue of a mother with children at the Monumental Cemetery of Staglieno in Genoa GenoaA mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of gestational surrogacy.A biological mother is the female genetic contributor to the creation of the infant, through sexual intercourse or egg donation. A biological mother may have legal obligations to a child not raised by her, such as an obligation of monetary support. An adoptive mother is a female who has become the child's parent through the legal process of adoption. A putative mother is a female whose biological relationship to a child is alleged but has not been established. A stepmother is a non-biological female parent married to a child's preexisting parent, and may form a family unit but generally does not have the legal rights and responsibilities of a parent in relation to the child.A father is the male counterpart of a mother. Women who are pregnant may be referred to as expectant mothers or mothers-to-be, though such appellations are less readily applied to (biological) fathers or adoptive parents.WEB, definition of mother from Oxford Dictionaries Online,weblink weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20110815101848weblink">weblink dead, August 15, 2011, Oxford Dictionaries, Oxford University Press, DICTIONARY, Define Mother at Dictionary.com,weblink Dictionary.com, The process of becoming a mother has been referred to as "matrescence".NEWS, Sacks, Alexandra, The Birth of a Mother, The New York Times,weblink 9 September 2018, 8 May 2017, en, 7 September 2018,weblink live, The adjective "maternal" refers to a mother and comparatively to "paternal" for a father. The verb "to mother" means to procreate or to sire a child, or to provide care for a child, from which also derives the noun "mothering".WEB, Definition of MOTHER,weblink 2022-02-12, Merriam-Webster, en, 2022-04-16,weblink live, Related terms of endearment are mom (mama, mommy), mum (mummy), mumsy, mamacita (ma, mam) and mammy. A female role model that children can look up to is sometimes referred to as a mother-figure.

Types of motherhood

Biological mother

Biological motherhood for humans, as in other mammals, occurs when a pregnant female gestates a fertilized ovum (the "egg"). A female can become pregnant through sexual intercourse after she has begun to ovulate. In well-nourished girls, menarche (the first menstrual period) usually takes place around the age of 12 or 13.WEB, Mishra, Gita D., Cooper, Rachel, Tom, Sarah E., Kuh, Diana, 2009, Early Life Circumstances and Their Impact on Menarche and Menopause,weblink Medscape, 5(2), Women's Health, 175â€“190, 2018-08-27, 2009-06-06,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090606093904weblink">weblink live, Typically, a fetus develops from the viable zygote, resulting in an embryo. Gestation occurs in the woman's uterus until the fetus (assuming it is carried to term) is sufficiently developed to be born. In humans, gestation is often around 9 months in duration, after which the woman experiences labor and gives birth. This is not always the case, however, as some babies are born prematurely, late, or in the case of stillbirth, do not survive gestation. Usually, once the baby is born, the mother produces milk via the lactation process. The mother's breast milk is the source of antibodies for the infant's immune system, and commonly the sole source of nutrition for newborns before they are able to eat and digest other foods; older infants and toddlers may continue to be breastfed, in combination with other foods, which should be introduced from approximately six months of age.WEB,weblink Your baby's first solid foods, 2017-12-21, nhs.uk, en, 2018-12-17, 2012-03-18,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20120318105745weblink">weblink live, Childlessness is the state of not having children. Childlessness may have personal, social or political significance. Childlessness may be voluntary childlessness, which occurs by choice, or may be involuntary due to health problems or social circumstances. Motherhood is usually voluntary, but may also be the result of forced pregnancy, such as pregnancy from rape. Unwanted motherhood occurs especially in cultures which practice forced marriage and child marriage.

Non-biological mother

Mother can often apply to a woman other than the biological parent, especially if she fulfills the main social role in raising the child. This is commonly either an adoptive mother or a stepmother (the biologically unrelated partner of a child's father). The term "othermother" or "other mother" is also used in some contexts for women who provide care for a child not biologically their own in addition to the child's primary mother.Adoption, in various forms, has been practiced throughout history, even predating human civilization.BOOK, Peter Conn, Adoption: A Brief Social and Cultural History,weblink 28 January 2013, Palgrave Macmillan, 978-1-137-33390-2, 25â€“64, Modern systems of adoption, arising in the 20th century, tend to be governed by comprehensive statutes and regulations. In recent decades, international adoptions have become more and more common.Adoption in the United States is common and relatively easy from a legal point of view (compared to other Western countries).NEWS, Jardine, Cassandra, Why adoption is so easy in America,weblink weblink 2022-01-11, subscription, live, Telegraph, 31 Oct 2007, {{cbignore}} In 2001, with over 127,000 adoptions, the US accounted for nearly half of the total number of adoptions worldwide.WEB,weblink Child Adoption : Trends and Policies, Un.org, 2015-07-01, 2022-03-24,weblink live,

Surrogate mother

A surrogate mother is a woman who bears a child that came from another woman's fertilized ovum on behalf of a couple unable to give birth to children. Thus the surrogate mother carries and gives birth to a child that she is not the biological mother of. Surrogate motherhood became possible with advances in reproductive technologies, such as in vitro fertilization.Not all women who become pregnant via in vitro fertilization are surrogate mothers. Surrogacy involves both a genetic mother, who provides the ovum, and a gestational (or surrogate) mother, who carries the child to term.

Lesbian and bisexual motherhood

The possibility for lesbian and bisexual women in same-sex relationships to become mothers has increased over the past few decades{{when|date=October 2014}} due to technological developments. Modern lesbian parenting originated with women who were in heterosexual relationships who later identified as lesbian or bisexual, as changing attitudes provided more acceptance for non-heterosexual relationships. Other ways for such women to become mothers is through adopting, foster parenting or in vitro fertilization.WEB, Lesbian parenting: issues, strengths and challenges,weblink 2011-01-25, BOOK, Mezey, Nancy J,weblink New Choices, New Families: How Lesbians Decide about Motherhood, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008, 978-0-8018-9000-0, Baltimore, registration,

Transgender motherhood

{{about|transgender women who are parents|pregnancy in transgender men and nonbinary people|Transgender pregnancy|section=yes}}Transgender women may have biological children with a partner by utilizing their sperm to fertilize an egg and form an embryo.WEB, Halim, Shakera, 2019-08-05, Study shows sperm production for transgender women could still be possible,weblink 2021-12-12, Health Europa, en-GB, 2021-12-12,weblink live, WEB, Reproductive Options for Transgender Individuals,weblink 2021-12-12, Yale Medicine, en, 2021-12-12,weblink live, For transgender women, there is currently no accessible way to carry a child. However, research is being done on uterus transplants, which could potentially allow transgender women to carry and give birth to children through Caesarean section. Other types of motherhood include adoption or foster parenting. However, adoption agencies often refuse to work with transgender parents or are reluctant to do so.JOURNAL, Kinkler, Lori A., Goldberg, Abbie E., 2011-10-01, Working With What We've Got: Perceptions of Barriers and Supports Among Small-Metropolitan Same-Sex Adopting Couples, Family Relations, 60, 4, 387â€“403, 10.1111/j.1741-3729.2011.00654.x, 0197-6664, 3176589, 21949461, JOURNAL, Montero, Darrel, 2014-05-20, Attitudes Toward Same-Gender Adoption and Parenting: An Analysis of Surveys from 16 Countries,weblink Advances in Social Work, 15, 2, 444â€“459, 10.18060/16139, 2331-4125, 2021-12-12, 2021-12-12,weblink live, free,

Social role

{{See also|Sociology of the family#Sociology of motherhood}}File:Sikkim 1.jpg|thumb|upright|Sikkimese mother with child]](File:Percentage of birth to unmarried women, selected countries, 1980 and 2007.png|upright|thumb|Percentage of births to unmarried women, selected countries, 1980 and 2007WEB,weblink Changing Patterns of Nonmarital Childbearing in the United States, CDC/National Center for Health Statistics, May 13, 2009, September 24, 2011, September 6, 2011,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20110906063823weblink">weblink live, )File:Mother and children. Mahabalipuram.jpg|upright|thumb|Mother and children (Mahabalipuram MahabalipuramThe social roles associated with motherhood are variable across time, culture, and social class.JOURNAL, 10.1111/j.1741-3737.2000.01192.x, 62, Conceiving and Investigating Motherhood: The Decade's Scholarship, Journal of Marriage and Family, 2000, 1192â€“1207, Arendell, Terry, 4, Historically, the role of women was confined to some extent to being a mother and wife, with women being expected to dedicate most of their energy to these roles, and to spend most of their time taking care of the home. In many cultures, women received significant help in performing these tasks from older female relatives, such as mothers in law or their own mothers.WEB,weblink The Changing Role of Women in North American Mammalogy, Biology.unm.edu, 2015-07-01, 2016-03-04,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20160304104934weblink">weblink live, (File:Olga Engdahl 1951.jpg|thumb|upright|Olga Pearson Engdahl was American Mother of the Year in 1963.Website list {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110323130748weblink |date=2011-03-23 }})Regarding women in the workforce, mothers are said to often follow a "mommy track" rather than being entirely "career women". Mothers may be stay at home mothers or working mothers. In recent decades there has been an increase in stay at home fathers too. Social views on these arrangements vary significantly by culture: in Europe for instance, in German-speaking countries there is a strong tradition of mothers exiting the workforce and being homemakers.WEB,weblink Has childlessness peaked in Europe?, Ined.fr, 17 December 2017, 21 February 2017,weblink live, Mothers have historically fulfilled the primary role in raising children, but since the late 20th century, the role of the father in child care has been given greater prominence and social acceptance in some Western countries.weblink {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130815170110weblink|date=August 15, 2013}}WEB,weblink ucgstp.org, Ucgstp.org, 2015-07-01,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20080225030354weblink">weblink 2008-02-25, dead, The 20th century also saw more and more women entering paid work. Mothers' rights within the workforce include maternity leave and parental leave.The social role and experience of motherhood varies greatly depending upon location. Mothers are more likely than fathers to encourage assimilative and communion-enhancing patterns in their children.WEB, Ann M. Berghout Austin1 and T.J. Braeger2,weblink Gendered differences in parents' encouragement of sibling interaction: implications for the construction of a personal premise system, Fla.sagepub.com, 1990-10-01, 2011-10-27, 2008-09-04,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20080904200612weblink">weblink live, Mothers are more likely than fathers to acknowledge their children's contributions in conversation.JOURNAL, Hladik, E., Edwards, H., 1984, A comparison of mother-father speech in the naturalistic home environment, Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 13, 321â€“332, 10.1007/bf01068149, 144226238, JOURNAL, Leaper, C., Anderson, K., Sanders, P., 1998, Moderators of gender effects on parents' talk to their children: A meta-analysis, Developmental Psychology, 34, 1, 3â€“27, 10.1037/0012-1649.34.1.3, 9471001, BOOK, Mannle, S., Tomasello, M., 1987, Fathers, siblings, and the bridge hypothesis, K. E., Nelson, A., vanKleeck, Children's language, 6, 23â€“42, Hillsdale, NJ, Erlbaum, The way mothers speak to their children ("motherese") is better suited to support very young children in their efforts to understand speech (in context of the reference English) than fathers.WEB,weblink Fathers' speech to their children: perfect pitch or tin ear?, Thefreelibrary.com, 2011-10-27, 2012-10-19,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20121019065505weblink">weblink live, Since the 1970s, in vitro fertilization has made pregnancy possible at ages well beyond "natural" limits, generating ethical controversy and forcing significant changes in the social meaning of motherhood.WEB,weblink Motherhood: Is It Ever Too Late? | Jacob M. Appel, Huffingtonpost.com, 2009-08-15, 2015-07-01, 2015-07-02,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20150702113016weblink">weblink live, WEB,weblink Getting Pregnant After 50: Risks, Rewards, Huffingtonpost.com, 2009-08-17, 2015-07-01, 2015-07-02,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20150702101334weblink">weblink live, This is, however, a position highly biased by Western world locality: outside the Western world, in-vitro fertilization has far less prominence, importance or currency compared to primary, basic healthcare, women's basic health, reducing infant mortality and the prevention of life-threatening diseases such as polio, typhus and malaria.Traditionally, and still in most parts of the world today, a mother was expected to be a married woman, with birth outside of marriage carrying a strong social stigma. Historically, this stigma not only applied to the mother, but also to her child. This continues to be the case in many parts of the developing world today, but in many Western countries the situation has changed radically, with single motherhood being much more socially acceptable now. For more details on these subjects, see Legitimacy (family law) and single parent.The total fertility rate (TFR), that is, the number of children born per woman, differs greatly from country to country. The TFR in 2013 was estimated to be highest in Niger (7.03 children born per woman) and lowest in Singapore (0.79 children/woman).WEB,weblink weblink dead, June 13, 2007, The World Factbook, cia.gov, In the United States, the TFR was estimated for 2013 at 2.06 births per woman. In 2011, the average age at first birth was 25.6 and 40.7% of births were to unmarried women.WEB,weblink FastStats, cdc.gov, 20 October 2021, 10 September 2017, 12 November 2019,weblink live,

Health

(File:Maternal mortality rate worldwide.jpg|thumb|upright|Maternal mortality map, given as the annual number of female deaths per 100,000 live births in 2012)(File:Infant mortality map of the world.svg|thumb|upright|Infant mortality rates under age 1, per 1,000 live births in 2013)A maternal death is defined by WHO as "the death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, irrespective of the duration and site of the pregnancy, from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management but not from accidental or incidental causes".WEB,weblink weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20130507115424weblink">weblink dead, May 7, 2013, WHO - Maternal mortality ratio (per 100 000 live births), who.int, About 56% of maternal deaths occur in Sub-Saharan Africa and another 29% in South Asia.WEB,weblink Over 99 percent of maternal deaths occur in developing countries, worldbank.org, 2013-09-21, 2013-10-02,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20131002211837weblink">weblink live, In 2006, the organization Save the Children has ranked the countries of the world, and found that Scandinavian countries are the safest places to give birth, whereas countries in sub-Saharan Africa are the least safe to give birth.weblink {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012211639weblink|date=October 12, 2007}} This study argues a mother in the bottom ten ranked countries is over 750 times more likely to die in pregnancy or childbirth, compared to a mother in the top ten ranked countries, and a mother in the bottom ten ranked countries is 28 times more likely to see her child die before reaching their first birthday.The most recent data suggests that Italy, Sweden and Luxembourg are the safest countries in terms of maternal death and Afghanistan, Central African Republic and Malawi are the most dangerous.WEB,weblink Safest Place to Give Birth? Italy, Kevin Spak, Newser, 14 April 2010, 1 March 2012, 20 February 2012,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20120220045654weblink">weblink live, NEWS,weblink The Guardian, Simon, Rogers, Maternal mortality: how many women die in childbirth in your country?, 2010-04-13, 2016-12-15, 2017-12-22,weblink live, Childbirth can be a dangerous process in the absence of effective measures to reduce death. When none of these measure are taken, the maternal death rate has been estimated as being within the order of magnitude of 1,500 deaths per 100,000 births.Van Lerberghe W, De Brouwere V. Of blind alleys and things that have worked: history's lessons on reducing maternal mortality. In: De Brouwere V, Van Lerberghe W, eds. Safe motherhood strategies: a review of the evidence. Antwerp, ITG Press, 2001 (Studies in Health Services Organisation and Policy, 17:7â€“33). "Where nothing effective is done to avert maternal death, "natural" mortality is probably of the order of magnitude of 1,500/100,000." Modern medicine has greatly alleviated the risk of childbirth. In modern Western countries the current maternal mortality rate is around 10 deaths per 100,000 births.ibid, p10

Religious

File:Parvati Ganesha.jpg|thumb|upright|The Hindu mother goddess Parvati feeding her son, the elephant-headed wisdom god Ganesha GaneshaNearly all world religions define tasks or roles for mothers through either religious law or through the glorification of mothers who served in substantial religious events. There are many examples of religious law relating to mothers and women.Major world religions which have specific religious law or religious texts that comment on mothers include: Christianity,WEB, What The Bible Says About Mother,weblink Mothers Day World, 2008-11-24, 2008-12-19,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20081219234224weblink">weblink live, Judaism,WEB, Religious Obligations of Jewish women,weblink About.com, Lisa, Katz, 2008-11-24, 2008-09-26,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20080926164154weblink">weblink dead, and Islam.BOOK, The Ideal Muslimah: The True IslÃ¢mic Personality of the Muslim Woman as Defined in the Qur'Ã¢n and Sunnah, Muhammad, 'Ali Al-Hashimi,weblink weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20020302034316weblink">weblink dead, 2002-03-02, Wisdom Enrichment Foundation, Inc., 2008-11-24, Some examples of honoring motherhood include the Madonna or Blessed Virgin Mother Mary for Catholics, and the multiple positive references to active womanhood as a mother in the Book of Proverbs.Hindu's Mother Goddess and Demeter of ancient Greek pre-Christian belief are also mothers.

Mother-offspring violence

missing image!
- Orestes Pursued by the Furies by William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1862) - Google Art Project.jpg -
upOrestes Pursued by the Furies by William-Adolphe Bouguereau, 1862. Clytemnestra was murdered by Orestes and the Furies torment him for his crime.

History records many conflicts between mothers and their children. Some even resulted in murder, such as the conflict between Cleopatra III of Egypt and her son Ptolemy X.In modern cultures, matricide (the killing of one's mother) and filicide (the killing of one's son or daughter) have been studied but remain poorly understood. Psychosis and schizophrenia are common causes of both,JOURNAL, Bourget, Dominique, GagnÃ©, Pierre, Labelle, Mary-Eve, Parricide: A Comparative Study of Matricide Versus Patricide, Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, September 2007, 35, 3, 306â€“312, 17872550,weblink 2 July 2015, 16 October 2015,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20151016134324weblink">weblink live, JOURNAL, West, Sara G., An Overview of Filicide, Psychiatry, Feb 2007, 4, 2, 48â€“57, 20805899, 2922347, and young, indigent mothers with a history of domestic abuse are slightly more likely to commit filicide.JOURNAL, Friedman, SH, Horwitz, SM, Resnick, PJ, Child murder by mothers: a critical analysis of the current state of knowledge and a research agenda., American Journal of Psychiatry, Sep 2005, 162, 9, 1578â€“87, 16135615, 10.1176/appi.ajp.162.9.1578, Mothers are more likely to commit filicide than fathers when the child is 8 years old or younger.Greenfeld, Lawrence A., Snell, Tracy L. (1999-02-12, updated 2000-03-10). "Women Offenders". NCJ 175688. US Department of Justice Matricide is most frequently committed by adult sons.JOURNAL, Heide, KM, Matricide and stepmatricide victims and offenders: an empirical analysis of U.S. arrest data., Behavioral Sciences & the Law, Mar 2013, 31, 2, 301â€“14, 23558726, 10.1002/bsl.2056, In the United States in 2012, there were 130 matricides (0.4 per million people) and 383 filicides (1.2 per million), or 1.4 incidents per day.WEB, Crime in the United States: Murder Circumstances by Relationship, 2012,weblink U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, 3 July 2015, 4 July 2015,weblink live,

In art

File:William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905) - Charity (1878).jpg|thumb|upright|Charity, by French painter William-Adolphe Bouguereau William-Adolphe BouguereauFile:Gallen Kallela Lemminkainens Mother.jpg|upright|thumb|LemminkÃ¤inen's Mother, an 1897 painting by Akseli Gallen-Kallela: She is shown having just gathered her son's LemminkÃ¤inen LemminkÃ¤inenFile:Brooklyn Museum 50.124 Mother with Child Lupingu lwa Cibola (3).jpg|upright|thumb|This Congolese figure was used to protect women who had lost successive children to miscarriages or infant death and is considered one of the great masterpieces of African Art. Brooklyn Museum Brooklyn MuseumThroughout history, mothers have been depicted in a variety of art works, including paintings, sculptures and written texts, that have helped define the cultural meaning of 'mother', as well as ideals and taboos of motherhood.Fourth century grave reliefs on the island of Rhodes depicted mothers with children.{{Google books |plainurl= |id=3fnsWhZkq74C |page=234 |title=Women, Crime and Punishment in Ancient Law and Society }}Paintings of mothers with their children have a long tradition in France. In the 18th century, these works embodied the Enlightenment's preoccupation with strong family bonds and the relation between mothers and children.{{Google books |plainurl= |title=Intimate Encounters: Love and Domesticity in Eighteenth-century France |id=DQ_8S3iJPa4C |page=87 }}At the end of the nineteenth century, Mary Cassatt was a painter well known for her portraits of mothers.American poet, essayist and feminist Adrienne Rich has noted "the disjuncture between motherhood as patriarchal institution and motherhood as complexly and variously lived experience".JOURNAL, Heath, Joanne, December 2013, Negotiating the Maternal: Motherhood, Feminism, and Art,weblink Art Journal, 72, 4, 84â€“86, 10.1080/00043249.2013.10792867, 143550487, 0004-3249, The vast majority of works depicting motherhood in western art history have been created by artists who are men, with very few having been created by women or mothers themselves, and these often focus on the "institution of motherhood" rather than diverse lived experiences.BOOK, Epp Buller, Rachel, Reconciling Art and Mothering, Ashgate Publishing Company, 2012, 978-1-4094-2613-4, Epp Buller, Rachel, Burlington, VT, USA, 1â€“12, English, Introduction, At the same time, art concerning motherhood has been historically marginalized within the feminist art movement, though this is changing with an increasing number of feminist publications addressing this topic.BOOK, Chernick, Myrel, The M Word: Real Mothers in Contemporary Art, Klein, Jennie, Demeter Press, 2011, 978-0-9866671-2-1, Chernick, Myrel, Bradford, Canada, 1â€“17, English, Introduction, Klein, Jennie, The institution of motherhood in western art is often depicted through "the myth of the all-loving, all-forgiving and all-sacrificing mother" and related ideals. Examples include works featuring the Virgin Mary, an archetypal mother and a key historical basis for depictions of mothers in western art from the European Renaissance onwards.BOOK, Shari, Thurer,weblink The myths of motherhood : how culture reinvents the good mother, 1995, Penguin, 0-14-024683-5, 780801259, Mothers depicted in dominant art works are also primarily white, heterosexual, middle class and young or attractive.These ideals of motherhood have been challenged by artists with lived experience as mothers. An example in western contemporary art is Mary Kelly's Post-Partum Document. Bypassing typical themes of tenderness or nostalgia, this work documents in extensive detail the challenges, complexities and day-to-day realities of the mother-child relationship.WEB, Mary Kelly, Post-Partum Document (article),weblink 2022-03-03, Khan Academy, en, 2022-03-03,weblink live, Other artists have addressed similar aspects of motherhood that fall outside dominant ideals, including maternal ambivalence, desire, and the pursuit of self-fulfillment. Â While the ideal of maternal self-sacrifice and the 'good mother' forms an important part of many works of art relating to the Holocaust, other women's Holocaust and post-Holocaust art has engaged more deeply with mothers' trauma, taboos, and the experiences of second and third-generation Holocaust survivors.JOURNAL, Mor Presiado, 2018, The Expansion and Destruction of the Symbol of the Victimized and Self-Sacrificing Mother in Women's Holocaust Art,weblink Nashim: A Journal of Jewish Women's Studies & Gender Issues, 33, 177, 10.2979/nashim.33.1.09, 165961732, 0793-8934, For example, works by first-generation survivors of the Holocaust such as Ella Liebermann-Shiber and Shoshana Neuman have depicted mothers abandoning and suffocating their children in an effort to stay alive themselves.Increasingly diverse representations of motherhood can be found in contemporary works of art. Catherine Opie's self-portrait photographs, including of herself nursing, reference the existing Virgin Mary archetype while subverting its norms around sexuality by centering her identity as a lesbian. Rather than attempting to make her experience of motherhood fit into existing norms, Opie's photographs are "non-traditional and non-apologetic representations".BOOK, Barnett, Erin, Reconciling Art and Mothering, Ashgate Publishing Company, 2012, 978-1-4094-2613-4, Epp Buller, Rachel, Burlington, VT, USA, 85â€“93, English, Lesbian, Pervert, Mother: Catherine Opie's Photographic Transgressions, In her 2020 photography collection, Solana Cain explored the meaning of joy for Black mothers to challenge the lack of images in mainstream media that represent Black motherhood.WEB, Quammie, Bee, May 5, 2021, The tenderness and tenacity of Black motherhood,weblink Mar 3, 2022, Maclean's, March 3, 2022,weblink live, Renee Cox's Yo Mama series of nude self-portraits challenge historical representations of both the black female body and of maternity and slavery in the US, the latter of which is often characterized by the "extreme passivity and devalued love" typically associated with motherhood.BOOK, Liss, Andrea, Reconciling Art and Mothering, Ashgate Publishing Company, 2012, 978-1-4094-2613-4, Epp Buller, Rachel, Burlington, VT, USA, 71â€“84, English, Making the Black Maternal Visible: Renee Cox's Family Portraits,

Synonyms and translations

File:Quechuawomanandchild.jpg|thumb|upright|Mother with child in Peru Peru(File:ASC Leiden - Coutinho Collection - 11 24 - Village in the liberated areas, Guinea-Bissau - 1974.tiff|upright|thumb|Mothers with children in liberated Guinea-Bissau, 1974)The proverbial "first word" of an infant often sounds like "ma" or "mama". This strong association of that sound with "mother" has persisted in nearly every language on earth, countering the natural localization of language.Familiar or colloquial terms for mother in English are:

Ma(à¦®à¦¾), Mata (à¦®à¦¾à¦¤à¦¾), Amma (à¦†à¦®à§à¦®à¦¾), Ammu (à¦†à¦®à§à¦®à§) used in Bangladesh, India.
Aama, Mata used in Nepal
Mom and mommy are used in the United States, Canada, South Africa, and parts of the West Midlands including Birmingham in the United Kingdom.
Inay, Nanay, Mama, Ma, Mom, Mommy are used in the Philippines
Mum and mummy and mama are used in the United Kingdom, Canada, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, India, Pakistan, Hong Kong and Ireland.
Ma, mam, and mammy are used in Netherlands, Ireland, the Northern areas of the United Kingdom, and Wales; it is also used in some areas of the United States.
Mama was imported into Japan from American influence post-World War II, and is a less formal term for motherWEB, Shoji, Kaori,weblink For Japanese, family names are the worst growing pains, The Japan Times, 2004-10-28, 2022-06-09, 2022-06-09,weblink live,

In many other languages, similar pronunciations apply:

Amma (à®…à®®à¯à®®à®¾) or Thai (à®¤à®¾à®¯à¯) in Tamil.
Bi-ma (à¤¬à¤¿à¤®à¤¾) in Bodo.
Maa, aai, amma, and mata are used in languages of India like Assamese, Bengali, Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu etc.
MamÃ¡, mama, ma, and mami in Spanish
Mama in Polish, German, Dutch, Russian and Slovak
MÄma (å¦ˆå¦ˆ/åª½åª½) in Chinese
MÃ¡ma in Czech and in Ukrainian
Maman in French and Persian
Ma, mama in Indonesian
MamaÃ, mam in Irish
Mamma in Italian, Icelandic, Latvian and Swedish
MÄman or mÄdar in Persian
MamÃ£e or mÃ£e in Portuguese
MÄÌƒ (à¨®à¨¾à¨‚) in Punjabi
MÃµujÃ¬ in Kashmiri
Maa(à¬®à¬¾), Bou/Bau(à¬¬à‹à¬‰/à¬¬à¬‰) in Odia
Mama in Swahili
Em (××) in Hebrew
A'ma (ÜÜ¡Ü) in Aramaic
MÃ¡ or máº¹ in Vietnamese
Mam in Welsh
Eomma (ì—„ë§ˆ, {{IPA-ko|ÊŒmma|pron}}) in Korean
Mma in Tyap
In many south Asian cultures and the Middle East, the mother is known as amma, oma, ammi or "ummi", or variations thereof. Many times, these terms denote affection or a maternal role in a child's life.

Etymology

File:Õ„Õ¡ÕµÖ€ Õ€Õ¡ÕµÕ¡Õ½Õ¿Õ¡Õ¶ Õ°Õ¸Ö‚Õ·Õ¡Ö€Õ±Õ¡Õ¶.jpg|thumb|right|Statue of Mother Armenia, aerial view in Yerevan YerevanThe modern English word is from Middle English moder, from Old English mÅdor, from Proto-Germanic *mÅdÄ“r (cf. East Frisian muur, Dutch moeder, German Mutter), from Proto-Indo-European *mÃ©hâ‚‚tÄ“r (cf. Irish mÃ¡thair, Tocharian A mÄcar, B mÄcer, Lithuanian mÃ³tÄ—). Other cognates include Latin mÄter, Greek Î¼Î®Ï„Î·Ï, Common Slavic *mati (thence Russian Ð¼Ð°Ñ‚ÑŒ (mat')), Persian Ù…Ø§Ø¯Ø± (madar), and Sanskrit à¤®à¤¾à¤¤à¥ƒ (mÄtá¹›).

Notable mothers in mythology

Zoology

In zoology, particularly in mammals, a mother fills many similar biological functions as a human mother.

Mammals

Many other mammal mothers also have numerous commonalities with humans.

Primates

The behavior and role of mothers in non-human species is most similar in species most closely related to humans. This means great apes are most similar, then the broader superfamily of all apes, then all primates.

References

External links

{{Commons category-inline|Mothers}}
{{Wiktionary-inline|mother}}

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mother

Types of motherhood

Biological mother

Non-biological mother

Surrogate mother

Lesbian and bisexual motherhood

Transgender motherhood

Social role

Health

Religious

Mother-offspring violence

In art

Synonyms and translations

Etymology

Notable mothers in mythology

Zoology

Mammals

Primates

See also

References

Further reading

External links