The Myth of Motherhood and the Role of Stepmothers: An Outlook of Women Who Have Delayed Their Motherhood

Abstract

In this qualitative study, stepmothers' ideas regarding motherhood and the role played by these ideas in their roles as mother and stepmother were investigated in Chile. For this purpose, 17 women who formed a couple with men who had children from previous relationships were interviewed. The results indicate the importance of motherhood as a life project and the prescriptive nature of mythology on motherhood sustained by the women interviewed concerning the care and responsibility for the children and the nature of the affective bond that links them to the children and affects the definition of their roles inside their stepfamily.

KEYWORDS:

• project of life
• motherhood ideology
• stepmothering
• delayed motherhood

Notes

1. These results are included in a more complete investigation that accounts for the experience of stepmothers at the time of electing motherhood, in its development, and the consequences of the birth of the first child inside a particular type of stepfamily.