?Thirty nothing?: What do counsellors know about mature single women who wish for a child and a family?

Abstract

The following paper examines the emergence of a wish for a child among women in general, and the socio-psychological pressure awaiting unwed women who are over 30 years old. Though there has been some consensus among researchers that it is the institution of motherhood that perpetuates women's oppression, and not the experience itself, there have been very few studies on the experience of motherhood as a choice. The study of a wish for a child in mature age may clarify concepts such as femininity, womanhood, female sexuality, and motherhood. The paper suggests that the experience of unwed mothers is a unique framework for such an examination, and present a case study from a longitudinal research on unwed mothers in Israel.