In this phenomenological study, Colaizzi’s (1978) method was used, which attempts to describe human experience in its context. This method was chosen because each step has been clearly identified and it is well suited for clarifying the phenomenon of motherhood. Therefore, the confidential essays method was used as the research technique. Data were collected in April 2003 from the mothers. Explanations were given about the study by the investigators, and confidential essays were completed by those willing to take part in the study.

The data were collected from the confidential essays which the participants wrote. Use of this method to gather data about motherhood from mothers allowed them to describe the concept of motherhood from their own perspective. For the essays, the women were asked to answer the question, “What is motherhood to you?”. Researchers preferred not to ask any other questions for the purpose of getting their pure motherhood concept. There were no restrictions imposed for the length, content, title, and so on, of the essay. The participants were told that they had one week to write and submit their essays. The purpose of allowing a week for the essay was to make the participants feel more comfortable in writing their opinions and in choosing what they would like to share about motherhood.

Analysis of the essays revealed two categories - satisfactions and difficulties, and four themes. Satisfaction was evident in themes: 1) Beautiful and a hard-to- explain feeling, 2) full of rewards. Difficulties were evident in themes: 3) the most difficult job and, 4) strain in the motherhood role. The frequency of themes stated by respondents is shown in Figure 1. Sample expressions, supporting the four identified themes, are given below.

Theme 1: Beautiful and a hard-to-explain feeling All of the midwives and seven of the teachers claimed that the sense of motherhood was “worth it all” and “it is higher than all the other kinds of love”. Nine of the mothers (seven of the midwives, two of the teachers) noted that the feeling of motherhood could not be understood and could not even be imagined except by a person who is a mother. One of the teachers described motherhood as: “One of the most beautiful feelings in the whole world which could not be understood and could not even be imagined unless one is a mother herself” (mother of a two-and-a-half-year-old child, who had worked for 10 years).

A midwife described motherhood and maternal love in elaborate terms; “Motherhood is a hard-to-explain feeling and source of happiness, an addiction. It is like drowning in a flood of beautiful feelings like ultimate compassion. It cannot be measured or compared to any other feeling” (mother of a two 7- and 14-year- old children, who had worked for 18 years).

Midwives described breastfeeding and beautiful feelings which breastfeeding creates in elaborate, romantic and dramatic terms: “I can’t tell how I felt when I breastfed for the first time. The feel of the milk, running through my milk ducts increased my affection towards my baby. That is when I understood ‘real motherhood’” (mother of a 2-year-old child, who had worked for four years).

Because of the difficulties in describing motherhood, not only midwives but also teachers used rich analogies. They also used many comparative words for the purpose of explaining their motherhood concept more clearly. “It is a nice and complicated feeling”, “it is a kind of self-sacrifice, love, affection, tolerance and pain”, “the most beautiful feeling that I can ever have felt but also the most unbearable”, “the most beautiful but the hardest profession”.

Theme 2: Full of rewards Both midwives and teachers noted that motherhood was the ultimate source of fulfillment. For them a smile and/or a hug from their children made motherhood endurable. Along this same line the rewards mothers mentioned in their essays were nearly the same in both groups “housework, career, relationship with my husband…when a child is added to these responsibilities, sometimes I feel pretty anxious. But only a smile on their faces makes me forget how tired I am” (a teacher, mother of 7- and 14-year-old children, who had worked for 18 years).

“Even though I come home exhausted from work and my children do not let me sleep during the night, a smile on their faces makes me forget all of my sufferings” (a midwife, mother of a five-month-old child, who had worked for 11 years).

We encountered the same feelings in relation to their birthing experience: “When I heard its crying just after delivery, I forgot all the pain I had suffered” (a midwife, mother of a 5-year-old child, who had worked for eight years).

Another midwife described the change in her life as: “No matter how hard it is, being a mother is a hope for life. Watching my baby grow, planning for its future gives me great happiness and desire for living” (mother of a 7-year-old child, who had worked for 15 years). Five of the midwives considered themselves “lucky” and were thankful to God that they had been given a chance to have a baby. They wished that every woman had this chance. “Without children, I would have felt like having been left in the middle of a desert, but now, I feel like an oasis in the desert” (a midwife, mother of 8- and 13-year-old children, who had worked for 11 years).

Theme 3: The most difficult job All of the teachers and half of the midwives agreed that motherhood is the most difficult job in all the world. They stated that their maternal feelings enabled them to endure many hard situations which they could not have handled before. A statement of one of the teachers is noteworthy: “Motherhood is so difficult a job, an occupation, an entire life, besides, it is the most beautiful feeling. It is to endure the conditions which you would never think of enduring for someone else” (mother of a one-and-half year old child, who had worked for 10 years). One of the midwives’ statements is noteworthy also: “Before I gave birth I thought that I could not stand going without sleep, I had nausea while my sister changed her son’s diaper. But now I can stay awake until morning and the odor while I change my baby’s diaper is like flowers” (mother of a 3-year-old child, who had worked for seven years).

Most of the mothers (six of the midwives, eight of the teachers) noted that being a mother meant a continuous struggle and heavy responsibility. The responsibility they felt and carried was stated by them with words like “awful” and “big”: “when I had my first baby, I felt an awful responsibility…I even would have given one of my eyes for her nursing for the sake of her being healthy, when she refused to nurse” (A teacher, mother of 8- and 12-year-old children, who had worked for 16 years).

From the expressions of the mothers, it can be understood that the responsibility they felt did not decline even when they were far away from their children. This statement of one of the teachers was very striking: “motherhood is the beating of your heart in worry all the time or like carrying a crystal vase an entire lifetime in your hands which you are afraid you will drop and break” (mother of a one-and- half-year-old child, who had worked for seven years).

Six of the midwives and five of the teachers wrote that they had dedicated themselves to their children and were ready to devote everything to them without expecting anything in return. Additionally, there were clear or hidden dedications in their essays to their children; “I live for him. I dedicated myself to him” (a midwife, mother of a 5-year-old child, who had worked for eight years). In a similar manner, midwives mentioned that the main theme of their conversations at work with colleagues was their children. One of them said: “what we talk about most is our children. You may ask if there isn’t anything else in the world to talk about. Of course there is, but for us there isn’t. Our children are our world. There isn’t anything in the world more important for us than our children” (mother of 8- and 13-year old children, who had worked for 11 years). But teachers wrote that they were talking with other mother colleagues for the purpose of profiting from their experiences and being more qualified to raise their children.

Five of the teachers indicated that they had to sacrifice their leisure time and freedom to defer to the needs of their children. Those mothers added that they were ashamed and had great feelings of guilt from their needs for leisure and freedom: “Sometimes I thought that they put limitations/restrictions on my life…I could not go out wherever or whenever I wanted. But while he/she is sleeping in my arms, I am ashamed of myself” (mother of 6- and 8-year-old children, who had worked for 11 years).

Only a teacher noted that if she had the opportunity to choose being childless, she would: “…but it restricts the freedom, I will never have back my completely free times like before I became a mother. If I’m asked whether I would prefer to have or not to have a child now, I would prefer to be childless. My mind is always busy with her, what she will eat or how she will dress…This bothers me a lot. Sometimes I envy my friends who are single and childless…” (mother of 3- and 9- year-old children, who had worked for 10 years). None of the midwives mentioned any restrictions which children bring into their lives.

Theme 4: Strain in motherhood role Nine of the midwives and five of the teachers in the study thought that their work somewhat impeded them from performing their maternal responsibilities the way they would have liked to perform them. Especially the midwives stated that they usually felt sorry, because they were not able to give the kind of care that they advised other mothers to give. They thought that they were unable to give the proper care to their own children because of their work, which led them to feel guilty. “I wish I could have raised my children in my own way and with my own experiences and given them the support they needed. It is a pity that we can’t spare time for them because of our work. We try to tell them why we have to work and leave them alone at home. Of course we feel guilty for that” (a midwife, mother of 7- and 14- year-old children, who had worked for 18 years). One of the midwives wrote about the increasing conflict between her maternal and professional roles due to lack of legal and institutional support: “As we work both in and outside the house, we are always in a rush, and so are our children. I wish we had kindergartens at our workplaces or could get unpaid leave. Because of economic problems we can’t quit our work.” (mother of a 3-year-old child, who had worked seven years). A teacher similarly mentioned that: “…unfortunately I’m not enough for my child. Either my school work or my housework or tiredness comes first. I try to find justification for this in my conscience but I’m not able to” (mother of 6- and 8- year-old children, who had worked for 11 years).

Only one of the midwives emphasized the positive influence of being a mother to her job. She stated, “When I became a mother, I had the chance to apply what I had learnt from books. It gave me self-confidence in my work” (mother of a 3-year-old child, who had worked seven years). None of the teachers indicated any positive or negative effects to their jobs from being a mother.

The midwives and teachers, who had similar definitions of motherhood, gave different roles for mothers. Whatever the age of their children the majority of the midwives emphasized breastfeeding as the most pronounced activity. The effort they put forth for breastfeeding was described in detail: “My oldest daughter was still a baby and still needed her mother’s milk. I would go home from work at least three times to breastfeed her. How long do you think I could continue doing this? Until she was 18 months old. Housewives don’t even breastfeed that long” (mother of 8- and 13-year-old children, who had worked for 11 years).

It is interesting that only one of the teachers mentioned breastfeeding as a maternal activity. Their (eight of them) main focus about motherhood was to bring up well-educated and qualified human beings and become a good role model as a mother to their children: “Motherhood is being a role model. Because your actions are always being observed you have to do the best, the finest and the most correct thing and be a good role model” (mother of a two-and-a-half- year-old child, who had worked for 10 years).

The teachers also emphasized that motherhood is an art: “In my opinion motherhood is an art. Our children are our works of art that we offer to the outside world. The basic elements of this art are using love, patience and understanding at the right time” (a teacher, mother of a one-and-a-half-year-old child, who had worked for seven years).

Being patient, making their children feel loved and playing with them were different from the other roles, according to the teachers: “The most important aspect of the job is to be able to make them feel that they are loved. A warm look, patting their head, finding time to spend with them, listening to them, being with them on good days and bad, not controlling them but helping them to find the right way” (mother of a one-and-a-half-year-old child, who had worked for seven years).

When we examined what the midwives and teachers had written about motherhood, we saw that the midwives wrote longer, more romantic and picturesque explanations. The midwives gave lengthy explanations for how difficult it is to be a mother, how they showed care for their children, and how they could not entrust them into someone else’s care (to exert oneself unstintingly). The teachers’ compositions were shorter and had general definitions. In addition, it is noteworthy that the teachers were focused on the present and future while the midwives tried to explain their past experiences with motherhood.

This study showed that there were minor differences between two different well-educated, employed groups of women on the nature of their perceptions of motherhood, the difficulties they described and their satisfaction with it. Midwives and teachers both shared the view that motherhood is one of the most beautiful feelings in the whole world and full of rewards, but they also accepted its difficulties. Their differences were concerning the roles in motherhood.

The results indicated that the vast majority of mothers in this study perceived motherhood as the most beautiful feeling they had experienced and were absolutely sure that having a child is one of the most important things in life (and quite possibly the most important thing in life). Only one of the mothers regretted having had children. From their writings it is understood that their children represent a way to infuse value, significance, meaningfulness, and hope into their everyday lives, especially for midwives, and this helped them to manage the tough times. According to these findings, it can be said that our results are similar to those of other studies in the literature (Liamputtong, 2001; Meyers, 2001; Toktaş, 2002).

Both groups also clearly stated that motherhood is a source of pain and suffering as much as it is a source of hope, joy of life and happiness. In their definitions of motherhood, happiness and suffering generally happen together as noted in Wilkerson (2004), where Jennifer Nedelsky indicated that: “the joys of mothering are powerful, elemental and yet fragile. They can so easily be overwhelmed by unmet needs, fear, anxiety and simple exhaustion. Even in the affluence of the United States and Canada, the structures of support for mothers are so poor that the passion they feel for their children is often a source of pain rather than joy”. McMahon (1997) also indicated that “many women do not experience the promised joys of motherhood. Instead they feel anxiety, guilt, depression, or anger following the birth of a child. In this regard, as suggested by Hock, Gnezda, and McBride (1984) and Toktaş (2002), some mothers would like to stay home with their infants if they had a choice. Recently Sumer (1998) studied 20 well-educated career women and found that combining a career with motherhood is still a major problem for university-educated Turkish and Norwegian women.

The difficulties of motherhood was the most frequently mentioned characteristic that both groups perceived. In particular, one of the difficulties which teachers often stated was their heavy responsibility of molding the next generation. As a member of a profession which is responsible for the education of the next generation, we can say that they strongly absorbed their professional roles also as mothers. They also absorbed what the Turkish Republic founder, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (2004), defined as the roles for teachers and women in his famous “Speech”. He called for women to take their places in the general economic division of labor and also stated that a woman’s highest duty is motherhood. In addition, Atatürk told teachers, “the next generation will be your artwork” (p. 198). In this respect, teachers in our study believed that childrearing is an art and children are their work of art. As noted by Richardson (1993) many recent feminist writers see motherhood as a source of creativity. Our findings are also similar to the writings of Iranian female writer, Fereshteh Hashemi. As noted by Moghadam (2004), Fereshteh Hashemi indicated that: “women have the heavy responsibility of procreation and rearing a generation: this is a divine art, because it creates, it gives birth; and it is a prophetic art, because it educates” (p. 139).

Most of the feminists writing about care have been white and middle-class women and many belong to the generation brought up to be wives and mothers rather than full-time workers (Abel, 2000; Polatnick, 1996). Since all of our respondents were middle-class Turkish women, it is not surprising that they felt anxiety and guilt when they experienced difficulties in caring for their children and that they saw it as emerging as a major concern for mothers. From their statements it is understood that mothers in the two groups felt solely responsible for their children and had high and unrealistic expectations of themselves. For them, being a good mother requires a zero tolerance for failure or negligence because all of their actions are seen by their children. Mothers also stated in this study that to be a good mother, they should be patient, calm and be with their children all the time. Mercer (1986) found that few postpartum women she interviewed in her study had realistic expectations about parenting that included both positive and negative aspects, and women needed to know that mothering is difficult and time-consuming, and that mothers need to learn to be flexible and patient. On the other hand, some conservative writers, like Hafen (2001), share similar ideas with mothers. Hafen defined the child as an echo chamber and stated, “if he hears the sounds of love from his mother, he will later speak those same sounds of love to others. But if the mother’s signals are confusing and hateful, the child will later feel confused and hateful”. Mothers in this study generally shared the belief that “a child should be cared for by his/her mother”. This finding is similar to the finding of Lee and Keith (1999) who studied Korean women.

Avicenna (1995), in his book, Basic Principles of Medicine, wrote about the importance of breastfeeding a thousand years ago. He suggested that “every woman should try to breastfeed her baby. If for any reason she cannot do it herself, she should find a healthy (physically and mentally), young, full-of-life woman who has good ethical values and has abundant milk to breastfeed her baby”. Breastfeeding has been encouraged and supported in our modern society as well (Black & Victoria, 2002; Olds, London, & Ladewig, 2000; Van’t Hof, 2000) and many researchers have found that one of the most frequent concerns of mothers is their infants’ feeding (Chrisler & Johnston-Robledo, 2000). On the other hand, some feminist writers like Simone de Beauvoir (1993) claimed that “nursing is also an exhausting obligation” and “the nursing mother feeds the newborn at the expense of her own strength” (pp. 62-63). In this study, breast- feeding of their babies was found to be the major concern of the midwives, unlike the teachers. Although both groups of mothers grew up in a society in which breastfeeding is considered to be a significant part of motherhood, in general, the midwives felt guilty, worried and angry since they could not breast- feed their own babies as they had to be outside of the house for work. According to these results we may conclude that being midwives provided them with additional sensitivity to breastfeeding issues. Their other concerns were about the continuum of care of their children and promoting their health.

In both Western and nonWestern cultures motherhood means “sacrifice” at the same time (Bialeschki & Michener, 1994; Hafen, 2001; Muftuler-Bac, 1999). Similarly the overwhelming majority of the mothers in our research typically mentioned that being a good mother requires intense energy and self-sacrifice. When we compared midwives’ and teachers’ “sacrifice” stories, we found a nuance of difference that was significant. It is understood from the essays that while midwives mentioned their devotion to their children, they saw this devotion as “normal”, and felt a kind of honor in contrast to the teachers. While midwives generally mentioned their sleepless nights and struggles to breast- feed, teachers mentioned the sacrifice of their own leisure time and freedom. According to these results we may conclude that the different professions and life course perspectives provided different/additional understanding of the mother’s “sacrifice” concept in this study. It is also understood that midwives completely internalized/engaged in the dependent, other-defined, devalued sense of being imposed on expected from women living in patriarchal societies. From the writings of the midwives it is clear that they did not experience internal conflict because of their double burden. Generally they stated that their roles as working women negatively affected their motherhood roles. However, unlike the midwives, the teachers complained that they did not have enough leisure time for themselves. They mentioned that motherhood makes up their oppression as women. On the other hand they often felt guilty or in conflict when they perceived their leisure needs as taking precedence over their care-taking responsibilities. In Turkish culture, in our observations, it may not be culturally acceptable for mothers to demand leisure time or freedom as they do in many other cultures (Rokach, 2004).

Although the sample in this study was nonrandom and therefore limited in its ability to be generalized, the goal in this qualitative research was to understand how employed mothers in Turkey experience or perceive their motherhood. This paper was primarily concerned with mothers in Turkey, but its implications may also be applicable to other women who are in similar situations. In a multicultural society elsewhere it is likely that educators, managers, social workers or politicians will give importance to other mother groups to provide culturally sensitive care and support. First, the ideology of exclusive mothering should be challenged. It is almost impossible to fulfill the ideal mothering role in the current context of elevated motherhood. Women should be encouraged not to have unrealistic expectations about their involvement in motherhood, and to be more flexible. There are some programs and policies, such as long-term maternity leave and high quality day care facilities, which can help women integrate job roles and family responsibilities without conflict and decrease their stress while they fulfill the roles of motherhood. These programs can be organized to take into consideration the life experiences and needs of women. We recommend that our study be replicated with different sociocultural and economic groups.

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Acar, F. (1994). Women in higher education in Turkey: A gold bracelet for women. In S. Lie, L. Malik, & D. Haris, (Eds.), The gender gap in higher education. London: Kogan Page.

Arat, Y. (1994). Toward a democratic society: The women’s movement in Turkey in the 1980s. Women’s Studies International Forum, 17, 241-248.

Arat, Y. (2000). From emancipation to liberation: The changing role of women in Turkey’s public realm. Journal of International Affairs, 54, 107-120.

Arın, C. (1996). Approaches of Turkish laws in relation to the violence towards women in Terror in the Home 1996 [In Turkish]. Istanbul: Mor Catı Yayınları.

Atatürk, M. K. (1997). Atatürk’s speech and oration (In Turkish). Ankara: Atatürk Araştırma Merkezi Yayınları.

Avicenna, İ-I. S. (1995). Basic principles of medicine [In Turkish]. Translated by E. Kahya. Ankara: Atatürk Kültür, Dil ve Tarih Yüksek Kurumu Print.

Beauvoir, S. de (1993). The second sex [In Turkish]. Istanbul: Payel Yayınları.

Bialeschki, M. D., & Michener, S. (1994). Re-entering leisure: Transition within the role of motherhood. Journal of Leisure Research, 26, 57-60.

Black, R. E., & Victoria, C. G. (2002). Optimal duration of exclusive breast feeding in low income countries. British Medical Journal, 325, 1252-1253.

Bobak, I. M., Jensen, M. D., & Zalar, M. K. (1989). Maternity and gynecologic care: The nurse and the family. Toronto: Mosby.

Chrisler, J. C., & Johnston-Robledo, J. (2000). Motherhood and reproductive issues. In P. Biaggio (Ed.), Issues in the psychology of women. New York: Kluwer.

Chodorow, N. (1978). The reproduction of mothering: Psychoanalysis and the sociology of gender. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Colaizzi, P. (1978). Psychological research as the phenomenologist views it. In R. Valle & M. King, (Eds.), Existential-phenomenological alternatives for psychology research. New York: Oxford University Press.

Fiftieth Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948-1998. (Adapted and proclaimed by General Assembly resolution 217(III) of 10 December 1948).

Hafen, B. C. (2001). The touch of human kindness: Motherhood and the moral influence of women. Vital Speeches of the Day, 67, 630-637.

Hock, E., Gnezda, M. T., & McBride, S. L. (1984). Mothers of infants: Attitudes toward employment and motherhood following birth of the first child. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 46, 425-431.

Kadıoğlu, A. (1994). Women’s subordination in Turkey: Is Islam really the villain? Middle East Journal, 48, 645-660.

Kandiyoti, D. (1987). Emancipated but unliberated? Reflections on the Turkish case. Feminist Studies, 13, 317-38.

Kurnaz, S¸. (2004). Women’s education from the Ottoman Empire to the Turkish Republic [In Turkish]. http://yayim.meb.gov.tr/yayimlar/143/14.htm

Lee, C. S., & Keith, P. M. (1999). The transition to motherhood of Korean women. Journal of Comperative Family Studies, 30, 453-71.

Liamputtong, P. (2001). Motherhood and the challenge of immigrant mothers. Families in Society, 82, 195-202.

McMahon, M. (1997). Rock-a-by baby: Feminism, self-help, and postpartum depression. Contemporary Sociology, 26, 599-600.

Mercer, R. T. (1986). First time motherhood experiences from teens to forties. New York: Springer.

Meyers, D. T. (2001). The rush to motherhood – Pronatalist discourse and women’s autonomy. Signs, 26, 735-40.

Moghadam, V. M. (2004). Patriarchy in transition: Women and the changing family in the Middle East. Journal of Comparative Family Studies, 35, 137-162.

Muftuler-Bac, M. (1999). Turkish women’s predicament. Women’s Studies International Forum, 22, 303-315.

Olds, S. B., London, M. L., & Ladewig, P. A. W. (2000). Maternal-newborn nursing: A family and community-based approach (6th ed.). New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.

Polatnick, M. R. (1996). Diversity in women’s liberation ideology: How a black and white group in the 1960s viewed motherhood. Signs, 21, 679-207.

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