Abstract

PUYANA VILLAMIZAR, Yolanda  and  MOSQUERA ROSERO, Claudia. Traer "hijos o hijas al mundo": significados culturales de la paternidad y la maternidad. Rev.latinoam.cienc.soc.niñez juv [online]. 2005, vol.3, n.2, pp.111-140. ISSN 1692-715X.

The purpose of this paper is to present the results of research on patterns of change in parental life projects after childbirth, in the city of Bogotá (Colombia). The study focuses on the social representations implicit in the ways fathers and mothers attribute meaning to the birth of their children, and on the changes they identify in their life projects as a consequence of child rearing The different meanings attached to having offspring relate directly to variations by gender, living conditions and the assimilation of social and cultural changes in the second half of the 20th Century. Three patterns can be discerned in the social representations of child rearing: The first is the traditional pattern, represented by couples in which women consider motherhood as the ultimate fulfillment of their life and stay at home, whilst their husbands are the breadwinners. The second pattern is called transitional, in which fathers resist being only breadwinners and participate in child rearing, whereas mothers build life projects of their own beyond motherhood, although with feelings of ambiguity. Finally, the third pattern is that of families that have broken with tradition. Parents in this group divide roles without distinction by gender. Fathers participate with their wives even before child birth and mothers combine professional careers with mothering. In this last group we found that the traditional imaginary that equates women with motherhood and men with the role of breadwinner and center of family authority has been eroded.

Keywords : social representations; fatherhood; motherhood; paternity; maternity; gender; tendencies; traditional; transitional; in rupture.

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