The society functions under the impact of a diversity of factors that result in the inequality of its members. For example, the wage gap is one of such inequalities. Nevertheless, the wage gender gap, which is traditionally observed between male and female employees, has another aspect. Thus, there is an issue known as the “motherhood penalty,” which appears when a female employee with a child or children becomes less competitive on the labor market compared not only to male colleagues but females without children as well. This paper describes the importance of the concept of “motherhood penalty” for sociological theory, relates this issue to the feminist theory, and analyses the results of a laboratory experiment dedicated to motherhood penalty consequences for employment in comparison to those of fatherhood.
Correll,1 Benard and Paik (2007) conduct a survey to reveal the existence of the wage penalty for mothers. The study attempts to check the impact of motherhood on the employment opportunities of a woman. The study is related to some sociological theories. First of all, it is connected to a feminist theory, which is one of the important directions in contemporary sociology. It is explicit throughout the article, mainly in the aspects where the meaning of motherhood and fatherhood are involved. Therefore, the work by Correll, Benard, and Paik (2007) can be included as the “sociological theory canon” due to a number of reasons.
The major factor for the importance of the mentioned study is its discriminative character. For instance, there is evidence that mothers on the whole and young mothers, in particular, have fewer chances for successful employment than their male rivals or females without children. Therefore, it is discrimination not only by gender but by the social position. Mothers are evaluated as employees that are less dedicated to their work and demonstrate less competence and commitment. Also, their competency rating is estimated to be 10% less than that of non-mothers (Correll, Benard, & Paik, 2007). Moreover, the starting salary of mothers is traditionally lower than that of non-mothers and fathers. The complex of these factors creates the concept of a motherhood penalty.
On the whole, the work is theoretical. It is supported by preliminary empirical findings from the earlier studies. These investigations provide evidence for status-based discrimination. Thus, another theory applicable to the case under discussion is that of status characteristics. This theory is also explicit throughout the study. Still, the facts of discriminative behavior towards women are not limited to the payment sphere. The mentioning of a child in the application form automatically decreases the chances of being employed because their competence is considered to be lower. Also, gender roles have a significant impact on the perception of mothers as employees. Thus, it is generally accepted that mothers are more concentrated on children. Therefore, their concentration on work and job commitment is expected to be lower than that of non-mothers or male employees.
Finally, the authors provide some empirical predictions that also comprise important sociological concepts. The first prediction is related to the so-called motherhood penalty. It means that mothers as applicants for a job will be evaluated as less competent and less committed, thus having fewer chances to be hired and promoted and will usually have lower starting salary compared to other equal female applicants who are not mothers (Correll, Benard, & Paik, 2007). Another sociological aspect that influences worker evaluations is the effect of fatherhood. Unlike that of motherhood, this one has a positive impact on the man’s employment and salary, similar to the “marriage premium,” which means that married men are considered to be more productive and thus are more desirable employees.
The discrepancies between motherhood and fatherhood employment maybe not as sharp as between men and women in general. Still, the concept of the motherhood penalty exists, and it is supported by a laboratory experiment, which comprised such factors as gender and parental status of applicants. The evaluation revealed that mothers’ evaluations of competence and commitment are lower than that of non-mothers, while the situation is opposite for fathers and non-fathers (Correll, Benard, & Paik, 2007). The same tendency is observed about salary and the likelihood of promotion.
Consequently, the concept of the motherhood penalty can become a basis for another feminist theory in sociology. Feminism is characterized by dynamic, reflexive, and diverse feminist theories (Mann, 2012). Thus, similarly to other aspects, that of motherhood and its consequences should not be undervalued in the context of feminism. Therefore, placing motherhood in the center of new feminist theory is likely to result in new knowledge that would contribute to the systematic interconnection of the motherhood penalty with other feminist theories and make it a significant component of the sociological theory canon.
References
Correll, S. J., Benard, S., & Paik, I. (2007). Getting a job: Is there a motherhood penalty? American Journal of Sociology, 112(5), 1297-1339.
Mann. S. A. (2012). Doing feminist theory: From modernity to postmodernity. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Footnotes
Shelley Correll is a Professor of sociology and organizational behavior at Stanford University. She is in charge of Gender research and the Center for Women’s Leadership there. She investigates the concept of the “motherhood penalty” and provide research to assess the impact of motherhood on the workplace opportunities.
First of all, it must be pointed out that the issue of Mary’s divine motherhood can be regarded rather ambiguously. Mary’s role as mother of Jesus must be analysed within the Marian dogmas, namely Divine Motherhood, Perpetual Virginity, Immaculate Conception, and Assumption.
The Marian dogmas
Generally, there is a strong need to clarify that the Christological dogma cannot exist without the dogma of Divine Motherhood. According to Christian faith, Mary is recognised to be the Mother of God. “Mary functioned to reveal divine love as compassionately close, interested, trustworthy and attractive” (Johnson, 2000). The kind of love is not rejected by any of Christian denominations. It seems that there is Christ’s human nature, which determines the core of the Christology.
According to Perpetual Virginity or Baptismal Formula, Mary’s virginity cannot be disputed, as Christ’s birth sanctified the woman’s most important mission.
Immaculate Conception is based on the woman’s all-holiness. Despite the fact that Mary’s role can be interpreted both – from the positive and negative perspectives, the absence of original sin is indisputable, as Mary was exceptionally holy since her birthday.
Keeping in mind the Assumption, one can probably state that Mary “is indissolubly linked to her Son on earth and in heaven” (Roten, 2012). The woman’s particular relations with God determine her all-holiness.
The identity of Jesus Christ in relation to dogmas
Divine Motherhood and Perpetual Virginity as the earliest dogmas give us an opportunity to understand the identity of Jesus Christ in detail, as they reveal the true nature of Christ: Christ as a God and Christ as a man. Therefore, one can probably notice that Christ is considered to be a God on the basis of Mary’s virginity; while, on the other hand, Christ is recognised to be a man according to Mary’s role as Theotokos. In other words, it seems to be obvious that Mary’s role is of particular concern, as without her, the identity of Jesus Christ would be still a matter of debate.
Mary as a model for Christian faith and discipleship
Mary is a model for Christian faith and discipleship, as her divine motherhood is associated with the power that gave rise to mice and man. In other words, God is the only origin of life, and Mary’s primary purpose was to provide humanity with the gift. The woman’s spiritual motherhood seems to remind us of human beings’ one hope. Most of the theologists are of the opinion that Mary showed people the importance of unity and obedience; she formed Christ in people and helped them to see the true face of the Savior.
As far as Mary was “the first disciple to hear God’s word and responded to it with full faithfulness” (Hall, 1996), one can conclude that Mary was the first person who followed the God’s ways. The woman is accepted as the true believer because of the faithfulness, but not biological motherhood of Son of God. Christian faith starts from the woman’s divine motherhood.
Conclusion
Mary’s divine motherhood is recognised to be extremely significant in revealing the true nature of Jesus Christ. The dogma is an integral part of the Christological doctrine; therefore, it is perceived by all Christian denominations. Everlasting fulfilment in God is the key issue of the dogma.
Keeping in mind the Bible, it becomes evident that Mary can be regarded as the mother of all human beings. For this reason, Christian faith and discipleship seem to be formed by the holy woman.
John Irving, the author of the novels the Cider House Rule and A Widow for One Year focuses on the theme of motherhood through the description of the main characters. Children who experience parental negligence especially from their mothers are unable to make solid decisions in their lives.
Mother is the backbone of every family; consequently, children who grow up without mothers end up having tough times in adulthood, as it is the case in the two novels. Irving focuses on failed motherhood either before or after the birth of the children.
In the Cider House Rule, Homer Wells undergoes awful ordeals during his childhood which forces him into an Orphanage called St. Paul. Surprisingly, Homer comes to the orphanage when he is still an infant. He does not know his mother’s whereabouts; he simply tries effortlessly to live with four foster families. While under foster care, Homer has never known how it feels to be happy.
Similarly, Ruth Cole does not have a happy childhood after the death of her two siblings; her mother neglects her parental duties. In addition, her parents have frequent fights, which lead to divorce. In the two cases, there is evident failed motherhood and the two kids; Homer and Ruth, experience this unfortunate failure.
Dr. Larch parents only tolerated to remain in marriage for the marriage was void of love. His mother does not care about her son’s wellbeing; she is rarely at home, because her job is perhaps more important; her family more so her son comes second or third in her priorities. Interestingly, when her husband brings the young Larch a prostitute as a present for passing exams well, she does not object.
Ruth experiences the same neglect just like Larch; her mother does not love her and its not surprising when she eventually leaves Ruth under the care of her father. Regrettably, the issue of failed motherhood paints the picture of current parents who leave their children under the care of either teachers or house helps to pursue their dreams.
After growing to become a doctor, Dr. Larch bases his career on abortion; he simply lacks no respect for human life courtesy of poor parentage.
Talking of abortion, the author highlights the failure of some mothers, who respect not their unborn children; abortion to them I a common thing. Additionally, in Larch’s neighborhood, most mothers are the oldest professionals in the world; prostitutes. Besides prostitution being ‘unethical’ though controversial, the fruits are repugnant.
These ‘professionals’ conceive children they cannot raise and thus abortion becomes the last resort; unfortunately, some mothers die in the process of abortion; what a piteous way of living. On the other hand, Ruth witnesses the painful death of a prostitute in one of the red districts; statistics and conventional knowledge attribute prostitutes to failed motherhood.
The comparative element in the novels is the theme of motherhood. In both books, the role of mother is in the society goes unfulfilled. Consequently, the main characters like Ruth, Larch and Homes are unable to make standing decisions in their lives due to poor motherhood.
Children need mother’s guidance as they grow for life issues might be confounding even to the wise and children needs guidance to know what decisions to make under what situations. Irving goes further to highlight the detrimental effects children incur when parents neglect their duties and the product of the same.
In conclusion, conflicts from either marriage or poor relationship cause loss of life and heart breakage of the children. The two books comparatively highlight parenthood, especially motherhood and its significance in the society. Finally, Irving is able to enlighten the society about the expectations of a mother.
The Joys of Motherhood is a popular title of literature book written by Buchi Emecheta. The ‘Theme of this book could be suitably applied in the modern days, where there is a serious drift/immigration to The West and European countries in the quest for a greener pasture.
The central issue in this book is the clash of cultures Nnu Ego has encountered, when she moved away from her original home, where she was groomed or indoctrinated to give full respect to traditional ethics, to a cosmopolitan town, in which these ethics are not necessarily, acceptable.
Now, if Nnu Ego is placed in American society, most of the issues raised, which were seen as unsatisfactory to her whims and aspirations, would have been turning to her favor.
The American society is not patriarchal, and Nnu Ego would have found total comfort and freedom.
First of all the cultural beliefs that men are always superior to women and therefore, have given them undue respect in all its ramifications, would not have become incumbent.
She will have to work in collaboration with her husband to reach all heights of success. And as such, the bringing up of children should be a collective responsibility where both of them have to make sound contributions.
The issue of second class position or earning respect from the husband and his family, once a woman bears children should not have become a basis for elevation within the husband’s family.
One of the most serious challenges Nnu Ego would face while living in America will be the attempt to maintain her culture, and at the same time adopting to the vast freedom the American cultures offered.
Secondly, the family or traditional ethics deeply rooted in her must also change. Even though, she might be caught struggling between two different cultures, which at the end, one has to prevail.
The last serious challenge would be the Capitalist nature of American society. She might be shocked to realize that, money is now the alpha and omega of life. The issue of the number of children a secondary, and that, Men, like her husband, are not all that superior and can work as houseboys, to earn a living.
The advantages Nnu Ego would have are; freedom, where she will be out of traditional chains of control, self-confidence, While the only disadvantage, as I feel, she would have is the ordeal of trying to adapt to new traditions and ethics.
Now, if I were Nnu Ego’s friend, the first advice to give is to draw her attention to understand that, a woman is not to be enslaved. And she has denounced the notion that: “All the same, like a good woman, she must do what she was told, she must not question her husband in front of his friends” (Emecheta, p. 114).
She should also forget her thought that: “she was a prisoner, imprisoned by her love for her children, and imprisoned in her role as the senior wife”. (Emecheta, p. 137).
Bibliography
Emecheta, Buchi. The Joys of Motherhood. New York: George Braziller, 1979.
One of the factors that may lead a pregnant woman to abortion is her “illiteracy” in matters of the heart. Both her heart and the heart of her would-be child are implied. The woman’s understanding of the close interconnection between her heart and the heart of her fetus will reduce her possible emotional and physical hostility to the unborn.
In Containing Women: Reproductive Discourse in the 1980s (1991) by Valerie Hartouni’s the idea of importance of metaphorical link between the heart of the would-be mother and her child is the leading one: “Situated in opposition to the supposedly unsituated gaze of technology is the second term of the antinomy, the truly situated gaze of women, directed not toward the uterus, but toward the heart and the heart as it exists, not in some physiological sense, of course, but metaphorically.” (Hartouni 40) Genetically, it is in women’s power to “read” the hearts of others and to penetrate into their most sacred mysteries. This ability acquires especial importance when a woman is pregnant. A woman should develop this ability of her but should direct it to her fetus.
Etymologically, heart derives from Greek terms “kardian” or “cura”, meaning care or concern. The importance of heart is not rooted in its biological functions only but in its moral significance as well. Heart thus becomes both the object and the subject of one’s love, care and support. Motherhood is the source of life and strength for the fetus, in other words, it is the whole system of developing one’s own heart and the heart of a child. Abortion in this case appears to be a means to break this system and to deprive potential mother from the opportunity to feel the joy of motherhood. Instead, if women’s abilities to “read” the hearts are linked to their uteruses, women will not only develop the ability to create life but to preserve it as well.
In the novel My Year of Meats (1999) by Ruth Ozeki we find ideas that are rather contradictory to the one offered in Hartouni’s work. Through the perspective of making the TV show My American Wife focusing on beef industry we observe how society demands other women, not the ones whose primary concern is motherhood. The woman should “be attractive, appetizing, and all-American. She is the Meat Made Manifest: ample, robust yet never tough nor hard to digest.” (Ozeki 8) With such an assumption of women there is no need to speak of women’s abilities to “read” hearts of others and their unborns, in particular. Moreover, how can possibly there be any understanding of motherhood as a moral duty in this case?
The main character of the novel, Jane, is involved in creation of the above-mentioned show. “When the phone rang at two in the morning, [she] didn’t bother to answer.” (Ozeki 25) When she gets an invitation to work in the show her feelings are controversial and ambiguous. As the time of program making goes by Jane becomes more and more aware of different aspects of meat industry and at the same time her perception of the program changes. When Jane discovers that it is DES which wreaks her uterus she decides to sabotage the program. This was her heart that showed her the right way.
Running parallel to Jane’s story is that of Akiko Ueno, whose husband is the embodiment of the filth and lust, “feeds” her with DES hormone that does not make any good for her. No matter how strong Akiko’s desire to give birth is she cannot do it because of her sickness. In this sense Akiko’s feelings are akin to Hartouni’s vision of fertility not only in terms of biology but as giving birth through heart love as well. One can observe the sorrow of a woman who cannot give birth and draw parallels with those who deliberately deprive themselves from the happiness of motherhood.
Thus, in the two works under consideration the problem of motherhood is seen through biological and moral perspectives. The works are similar in their understanding of motherhood as biological function, a moral duty and a moral satisfaction, but different approaches are taken to reveal this message. If in Hartouni’s work the emphasis is made on women’s ability to “read” hearts of others, to understand physical and moral interconnection between a would-be mother and fetus’s hearts and to make use of this ability to prevent abortions, Ozeki’s work throws light on the role of women as seen by the contemporary American society. And this role does not presuppose any moral obligation and satisfaction, not to speak of the ability to “read” hearts of others at all.
Works Cited
Ozeki, Ruth L.My Year of Meats. New York: Penguin Books, 1999.
Hartouni, Valerie. “Containing Women: Reproductive Discourse in the 1980s.” Cultural Conceptions on ReproductiveTechnologies and the Remaking of Life. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1997. 26-50.
Gwen Harwood was a famous Australian poet, known for many thought-provoking literary pieces. She wrote on a great variety of subjects and published over 420 works. The language used in many of her poems lacks a clear rhyme and at times is borderline prose, and yet still it manages to pluck at the strings located in a reader’s heart, painting vivid and poignant pictures in their mind to communicate the message. One of the prominent subjects in her art is one of motherhood and maternity.
The image of a mother remained somewhat static throughout the history of humankind. From author to author, from poem to poem, we see the same image – it is either a picture of tranquil happiness of successful motherhood or a self-sacrificial portrait of a woman who would gladly and willingly do anything for her children. The motives of happiness and self-sacrifice are often idealized and disconnected from reality (Strauss 1). Gwen Harwood’s poems paint a different picture of motherhood, which revolves around hardship, misery and unwilling sacrifice in order to conform to the societal norms. The readers could clearly see this in her poem called In the park.
The poem is centred on a woman in the park conversing with her past lover about their children. Although at first, their conversation may seem heartwarming, it becomes obvious that the man does not really care about the children. He is happy alone, not shouldering the responsibility of raising so many.
The ex-lover’s conversation with the woman is based simply on familiarity and false sympathies. The mother does not seem to brim with love towards them either, as is indicated in the last verse, where she says to no one in particular that “the children have eaten her alive” (Harwood 23). She is not happy with running the family on her back, alone, and his longing for the life she used to have before this life-long commitment.
This idea runs through many of the author’s poems. In a way, it adheres to the self-sacrificial motive of motherhood; however, it rarely shows it as something willing. The mothers she describes are rarely happy with their lives since they have to sacrifice their own personal lives in order to raise children. Her portrayal of mothers as sad and resentful victims of many circumstances is so unusual and thought-provoking because it antagonizes the traditional image of motherhood (McNeil 2).
Another subject frequently visited by Gwen Harwood in her writings is the subject of race and genocide. This is a painful and disgraceful page in the history of Australia, which mostly revolves around the treatment of the native populace at the hands of the colonists, who forced their culture on them and used their technological and military superiority to force them out of their homes. The tragedy of people’s culture, language, and heritage erased and turned history is addressed in her morbid poem called The Oyster Cove. It is dedicated to the aboriginal dispossession of Tasmania. It mentions the Oyster Bay, or Paredarerme, which was considered the largest Tasmanian nation.
This poem is written in a very unusual way. The language used is almost prosaic. The rhyme is not clearly defined, and the text itself may not seem very coherent, at first glance. It is not structured in a traditional way. In order to understand the message, the reader has to pay attention to the keywords and the mood of the poem as it is read. The reader must also be knowledgeable and aware of Australian history in order to understand the context.
Dreams, barracks, Christian rags, God’s creatures, whores, sick drunks, a lost race, flesh, memory, language, history, blood – these are the keywords that tell us what this poem is about (Harwood 85). These words are meant to represent the sick and fractured mind of a representative of a lost race losing its identity, exposed and defenceless to the vices and sins of the allegedly superior society (“An Analysis of the Writings of Gwen Harwood” par. 1).
Gwen Harwood avoids the classical trap of just telling the reader that something is wrong. Instead, she manages to use the words in such a way to make the reader feel how wrong it is. She leaves them shaken and shocked, using the power of the word to its fullest potentials, conveying emotions instead of dry facts and information. While some contemporary writers viewed the natives through the prism of their own prejudice, Harwood casts aside the notions of religion and culture, instead portraying them as people.
People who are capable of loss, pain, and suffering. The feeling of cultural loss and the sense of being treated like second-class citizens causes degradation. Many of the natives that were assimilated into the white culture became drunks or whores, living their lives in misery and becoming the bottom of the so-called civilized society.
Strauss, Jennifer. “She/I/you/it: constructing mothers and motherhood in the writing of Gwen Harwood.” Southerly: A Review of Australian Literature 52.1 (1992): 1-19. Print.
Motherhood is often portrayed as something pure, beautiful, as one of the most wonderful periods in a woman’s life. Although for many, having a baby is genuinely associated with joy, it is still hard work. This aspect of motherhood is not so often reflected in the literature, but Rita Dove’s poem refers to it. The text of this work demonstrates a short episode from the life of a mother, clearly showing the massive number of worries that women have to deal with every day. Dove writes, “she saw diapers steaming on the line, a doll slumped behind the door,” and thus demonstrates that there are signs of childcare throughout the house. Almost everywhere, you can find details that remind a woman of children and the responsibilities that she has to them.
Although women, after pregnancy, take care of their children at home, this time cannot be called a vacation. Every day, every hour is focused around the child; the mother’s whole life revolves around them. As a result, she practically does not have any time for herself for banal rest and respite. It is this situation and this aspect of motherhood that are reflected in the poem. Dove writes, “So she lugged a chair behind the garage to sit out the children’s naps.” The woman takes a short one-hour break while the children sleep to sit in quiet and observe the world around her. She needs these moments of emptiness, in which she feels herself “pure nothing, in the middle of the day,” to escape from the massive burden of responsibility.
The motherhood and its reflection in this poem can be seen from these small quotes, from the details of the mother’s attitude to what is happening. Personally, I can discern such moments because I have come across them in my life, observing mothers’ everyday lives. When I was in the house of one of them, I saw how the woman was constantly busy with something and had no opportunity to do anything for herself. Observing how much is needed to care for a child, I realized that this is a huge responsibility. Therefore, I find this portrayal of motherhood much more accurate and realistic than the lofty idealistic poems. In reality, mothers are much less likely to think about happiness and ideals and often about what else they need to do while they have time.
The two main themes that are going to be discussed in this paper are motherhood and death. The theme of motherhood is discussed using the poem “Daystar” and the book “A Worn Path”. This theme involves how women make sacrifices for their loved ones sometimes pushing themselves too much. The theme of death will be discussed using the text “King Oedipus” and “The Things They Carried”. This paper will show how death has influenced the lives of the main characters and how grief engulfs them.
Motherhood
This poem portrays women as a people whom are in a dilemma between their own well being and that of the family. This poem represents the trials and tribulations that the modern woman undergoes. A woman, or to be more specific, a mother, is always keen on building a good home. She has great love for the children and her mind is preoccupied with their wellbeing. The modern woman seeks to have a break from the family by going to work. She returns in the evening to meet her demanding children and husband. She has to meet the demands of the children and later in bed she has to be intimate with the husband no matter her feelings since she wants to serve him.
In the poem “Daystar”, we see a description of a woman who is attempting to have a break from her day to day chores of being a mother and also a wife. She longs for a one hour rest from these demanding duties. She always goes to the garage and sits alone when the children are sleeping. This is the place she unwinds and gives her the courage of raising the children and facing the task of raising a family. In the first and the second stanza the poems shows that this woman is weighed down by motherhood. We see diapers on the hanging line and a doll which is lying at the door. This indicates that this woman is very busy and preoccupied raising an infant or a very young child. This woman is weary and the doll is a good example of this. Her mind is preoccupied with the work that she is supposed to do in the house.
The woman going to sit at the garage alone is an indication that she needs to be as close as possible to the house just in case she is needed by the family members. This is an illustration that she has great love for the family but being away for sometime is quite nourishing. Her mind is always preoccupied and the third stanza explains how she is dazzled and easily distracted by petty things like watching a cricket or a leaf that is floating.
The one hour which she enjoys peace and tranquility comes to an end her child wakes up. She wants to know what her mother is doing. She fails to comprehend what her mum could be doing in a dingy place instead of being in the house and taking care of it. The mother answers that she is making a palace. This means that this is her area of control since when she is in the house it the children and the husband who are in control and not her.
Her husband is an insensitive man and the intimacy between the two is only appreciated by the husband while the wife does not seem to enjoy. She allows the husband to enjoy himself and her mind wanders to her own world. There is no proper communication between the couple.The husband fails to notice that her wife is not enjoying the intimacy and he does not care.
On the other hand, in the book “A Worn path”, we see a woman named Phoenix who has a great determination to reach the city. She is an old woman and uses a walking stick when walking. Although she has a small physique the author says that she has a strong will. This woman undergoes many challenges and it is only through her strength that she is able to complete her journey. The most important thing is that the love she has for her grand child inspires her to keep on moving. Just like the woman in “Daystar”, Phoenix wants the best for the grandchild and she is willing to undergo suffering to ensure that he is okay.
Death
Death seems to play a major part in the lives of the major characters. These deaths are followed by feelings of grief and the characters always try to avoid them but they fail. Their lives are greatly affected because they fail to stop these deaths and it haunts them very much.
The theme of death is also reflected in several books. It shows that death is a central theme in these books. In the book “What They Carried”, death is widely experienced. There is a lot of grief and we see characters in this book being haunted by these deaths. Ted Lavender is the first member of Alpha Company to die. He is haunted by the war and the only way he could deal with it is by taking tranquilizers. He also smokes marijuana to clear his mind off the war incidences. He is later shot as he comes from the bathroom. His boss jimmy Cross puts himself to blame for the tragedy because during this incidence he is busy thinking about a girl who he loved yet she could not love him back. He feels guilty of the death of his junior. In the story “On the Rainy River” we see the narrator does not want to go to war again owing to the experiences of Vietnam. We also see characters Strunk and Dave had agreed that incase that one of them is critically injured then the other must ensure that he is killed immediately. This does not happen when Strunk is injured. He begs Dave not to kill him and he agrees. Dave is relived when his friend dies on his way to the hospital.
The narrator is full of guilt and the death of Kiowa leaves him with hollowness. He resolves to expunge this by telling the story about the death of Kiowa and also the story of Bowker. O’Brien who is the narrator suddenly realizes that he is much more in ease regarding the death of Kiowa than that of Norman Bowker. He is perpetually haunted by these deaths and we see in “The Man I Killed” he tries to picture the life of the man he killed using a grenade. He tries to figure out how the life of the man would have been if he had not killed him. His conscience greatly torments him and he wonders whether he can bring to himself to tell this story to Kathleen his daughter who is only nine.
In the book “Oedipus”, we see the main character is surrounded by death and grief. His first incidence with death comes when he is born and his father orders that he be killed so as to prevent the prophesy of the oracle from being realized. However, he escapes death since the servant could not kill her. The main protagonist in this book is king Laius and the oracle had told him that he would be killed by his own son. Upon learning this, the only way he knew was to kill the son first. When Oedipus grows up, he learns that his parents were not his biological parents. He goes to consult an oracle and he learns that he is destined murder his father and go to bed with his real mother. The first part of the prophesy comes true when on his way to search for his real father he meets with King Laius, his father yet unknown to each other. An argument ensues and Oedipus kills him. The death of the king causes a plague and Oedipus promises to look for the man who killed the king. Oedipus sleeps Merope who happens to be his own mother yet he doesn’t know. When his foster father dies, Oedipus receives the news with happiness since he knows he will never kill his own father.
The life of Oedipus is surrounded with deaths and all his actions are based on these deaths. He is full of grief after realizing that king the king he killed was his true father. He is full of lamentation and he begs that he be exiled immediately.
Conclusion
In conclusion, these two themes have been the most important since they involve the major characters in the text. Motherhood has been discussed as a daunting task which involves sacrifice. The characters that are aware of death are not in peace since it always haunts them.
In March of 1776, the American colonies were ready to declare their independence from the British crown on the basis of what they asserted were universal and intrinsic rights. At the same moment, 51% of the free population existed without much legal identity.
The colonies, for the most part, mirrored British common law, under which single adult women had a few rights (owning property, entering contracts, bringing lawsuits), and married women had almost none. Furthermore, living conditions were physically uncomfortable for women. As if all this were not enough, the years before and during the conflict with England were economically and logistically difficult, and much was asked of women colonists.
In light of all this, was Abigail Adams revolutionary in her request, to her husband, that he “remember the ladies” (Adams)? Well, yes. Her request was in complete opposition to the prevailing laws noted above. At a time when women were giving more than even the usual service to their families, and when some would soon literally risk their lives (Deborah Sampson) (Bois), she was asking that women’s existence be made more livable in the future. The specific context in which she is pleading is marriage, a status of life that was bulwarked from change by both religion and the law.
She was also calling a spade a spade. At a time when the word “tyranny” was in regular use by the revolutionaries to describe the British king, she was applying that odious term to the habitual tendencies of men to abuse their power over women. She even threatened that if women were not party to the laws that governed them, they would have no obligation or inclination to abide by them. This was, of course, exactly the complaint that the colonists urged against the Crown, and that was certainly revolutionary!
The evidence that she was igniting a firecracker is that her husband responded with a degree of derision that seems a bit frantic. After listing all the other groups which the colonists’ actions have been accused of stirring up and making restless, he writes “But your letter was the first intimation that another tribe, more numerous and powerful than all the rest, were grown discontented. He goes on to hope that Washington’s army would fight against such “petticoat despotism”. Although he calls her “saucy”, his nervous response, and his description of women as a “tribe more numerous and powerful” shows how scary and revolutionary the thought of women’s rights seemed at that time. He ends his letter by noting again the relationship between unrest occurring among the servant class, and women’s efforts to obtain their rights. It sounds as though he had been listening; not happily, but listening nonetheless, to his wife’s reminder of the claims of women, in her March letter (Private letter from Abigail Adams to her husband, John Adams, March 31, 1776) A few months later, John Adams muses about the equivalence of women, children, and men of no property, in terms of their judgement, and, it seems, although he does not explicitly state this, their vulnerability to undue influence from men of property (Letter from John Adams to John Sullivan, May 26 1776).
Ranged against her argument were ingrained beliefs that women were so consumed with child bearing and rearing that, like minor age children, they could not think clearly enough to vote or make other decisions on their own. And there was no animosity in this point of view. In his subsequent contemplation of this issue, John Adams compares women to children, but clearly does not have a scornful attitude towards women; instead, more of a complacent condescension (Letter from John Adams to John Sullivan, May 26 1776). She was asking for (and even threatening) an overthrow of the natural order of things.
However, Abigail was on track to be a prime Republican mother in another several years. Republican motherhood was a post-Revolutionary term (Kupfer). In the early Federal period, women were exhorted to make sure that all their children were fully conversant with civic concepts and expectations, to rear up a generation of civic heroes (male), fitted to lead the fledgling republic, and to correct the failings of their husbands. This involved making sure that all the children were literate, numerate, and that they had a grasp of history. In a bitter irony, in the aftermath of the war, women were deprived of even the handful of advances that had been made thus far. By the turn of century, even those states which had experimented with women’s suffrage had given rescinded it. This notion of bearing the leaders of the future seems to modern ears like a sop, a distraction to keep women from agitating seriously for substantive change. However, as a result, women such as Abigail Adams were given encouragement by to thoroughly educate their daughters (and sons), and instill in them a sense of the importance of the individual in maintaining the freedoms for which their fathers had literally given their lives. The excuse was that an enlightened citizenry would safeguard the new republic.
Abigail Adams was a type specimen of this sort of mother of the Republic, whether consciously or not. She supported the cause, she educated her brood, and she had no hesitation in letting her husband know if she thought he was being a prat, and then correcting him. Abigail Adams may have felt deep disappointment that greater advances were not made in tangible rights for women in her lifetime. However, she had certainly developed an independence of thought and autonomy during the weary years when she was managing the household and the home-front amidst the chaos of war. In any case, she applied the lessons she had learned in the Revolutionary period to the education of her own children, making lemonade out of lemons. Her care and oversight of her children is evident throughout her correspondence. The emphasis of this idea of Republican Motherhood on literacy and an informed populace served the country well, and may be at least in part why we have reasonably good education in the USA.
Mrs. Adams was not afraid to speak her mind to her husband, and her admonition to him clearly set him thinking about the issue of women’s role and rights. It may not have borne fruit until 144 years later, but there was progress eventually. Yes, she was a revolutionary. She was also pragmatic. She went along with the notion of Republican Motherhood in her own family, and admirably discharged the responsibility of providing well-prepared citizens for the next generation. It may have been a bone tossed to women to keep them quiet, but at least it had good results. We may owe to the impetus of that dubious movement the development of our co-ed schools and colleges.
Works Cited
Adams, Abigail. Private letter to John Adams, 1776. Ed. Elizabeth J. Kates. 2010.
Bois, Danuta. Margaret Corbin. 1997. Web.
Deborah Sampson. 2010. Web.
Kupfer, Sharon. Literacy, Republican Motherhood, and the Women’s Movement in the Rare Book Room. 2010. Web.
Letter from John Adams to John Sullivan, 1776. Web.
Mercy Otis Warren. 2010. Web.
Pre-Civil War Reform. Ed. S. Mintz. 2007. Web.
Private letter from Abigail Adams to her husband, John Adams, 1776. Web.
The sphere of healthcare has always been closely correlated with various socio-cultural aspects due to the fact that these notions are interdependent in terms of the potential complications for the patients. The aspect of maternity care in the context of racial and ethnic disparities has now become one of the most challenging social issues in the UK. Indeed, according to the latest research in the field, an average of 9,8 women per 100,000 died during pregnancy or up to six weeks in postnatal care (MBRRACE-UK, 2018). However, when isolating this indicator to the death rate among Black women, the number goes as high as 40 deaths per 100,000 (MBRRACE-UK, 2018). Thus, it becomes evident that the issue of the experience of Black women in the context of maternal care is to be studied closely in order to find the possible reasons for such a drastic tendency.
The primary goal of the following research paper is to explore Black women’s experiences of racial disparities in UK maternity care and the impact of COVID-19 on the current situation. In terms of the major research question, the following objectives are to be met:
The general experiences of racial disparities Black women undergo in the context of maternity care and how this perception is affected by an ongoing pandemic;
Exploring the ways in which national organizations such as NHS support Black women in maternity care;
The identification of the barriers existing in today’s model of maternity care access for Black women in the UK;
The identification of differences, if any, existing within Black ethnic ‘groups’ and their needs in terms of maternity care.
The structure of the research will include a theoretical overview, methodology analysis, and discussion of the findings. The theoretical overview will encompass the analysis of intersectionality theory as a major conceptual framework, including the notions of race, gender, and social class. The methodology section will describe the means of data collection, which contains semi-structured interviews aimed at discovering the conditions of maternal care in the UK during the COVID-19 outbreak when compared to the care patterns from approximately two years ago.
Conceptual Framework
The Notion of Intersectionality
Maternal care among Black women remains one of the most widespread yet mysterious aspects of healthcare, as there is no particular answer to the question of the major factors taking a toll on women’s reproductive health. Since the 20th century, the issues of ethnic disparities have been discussed at a relatively high rate, but no consensus is reached. This may be explained by the fact that various researchers place emphasis on one ethnic problem at a time instead of perceiving them as a unity. However, in 1989, an American sociologist Kimberlé Grenshaw coined the term ‘intersectionality theory’ as one of the means to address the issue of ethnic disparities in such socio-cultural environments as healthcare (Kapilashrami and Hankivsky, 2018). According to the scholar, the very notion of intersectionality stands for the process of the examination of various social factors in terms of their interdependence instead of studying them in isolation (Kapilashrami and Hankivsky, 2018). That is, rather than conducting sociological research based on the data concerning gender or social class solely, it would be more beneficial to put the notion in perspective and combine it with other aspects like gender, race, or sex.
Intersectionality and Healthcare
Over the past years, various approaches to explaining the notion of ethnic disparities in healthcare have been presented. However, their credibility is now considered insufficient due to the fact that most of these arguments were address the notion of gender, race, or social class solely. The issue is especially evident in the example of maternity care in the UK and in the US. For example, in the past years, when speaking of Black and minority ethnic (BME) women, major emphasis was placed on the fact that women had a poor maternity care indicator due to the fact that they were the ones who neglected proper care in the first place (Martin and Montagne, 2017). Thus, such an assumption implies a high level of interdependence between the social status of a woman and her income.
However, in the very same article published by ProPublica, a story of Shalon Irving, a CDC epidemiologist, is narrated, claiming that thinking of the high mortality rate of Black mothers as a purely social status issue is, by all means, biased and requires reconsideration (Martin and Montagne, 2017). Other scholarly articles claim the existence of a similar problem in the context of sex and reproductive health education in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic (Lokot and Avakyan, 2020). Hence, the conceptual framework of intersectionality was chosen to conduct the following research for a number of reasons.
According to Kapilashrami and Hankivsky (2018), there are various fundamental questions that have to be considered prior to incorporating an intersectionality analysis, including:
The concept of the research: what are the basic assumptions underlying the issue, and what are the major aspects required to be considered in terms of interdependence?
The study design: identification of the adequacy and relevance of the available data and the establishment of the data time limits in order to design the diachronic boundaries of the research.
Impact and interpretation: estimating the ways in which the data collected will be interpreted to the broad audience (e.g., what social factors have to be outlined in order to prove the intersectionality of the research) and defining the potential implications of the research, including its practical value to the realm of global health.
Thus, considering the research question stated in the following research, the aforementioned aspects may be addressed. To begin with, the concept of the research tackles the issue of implicit racial bias that creates disparities in healthcare being implicitly correlated with sex and social status. According to the latest studies, the UK healthcare representatives are likely to implicitly modify their attitude regarding the patient’s gender even when the issues concern physical disability (Sakellariou and Rotarou, 2017). Thus, it becomes evident that both notions of racism and sexism have to considered when addressing the challenges of maternal care for Black women in the UK. Secondly, there are enough data concerning the notions of racial disparity, sex, and social status to conduct qualitative research on the topic. Finally, the implications of the following study will create a major impact on the justification of a hypothesis concerning implicit racial bias in maternal care.
Methodology
In order to collect sufficient empirical data, a semi-structured interview will be conducted. A semi-structured interview is considered as the most appropriate in the given context, as it allows the researchers to move beyond the rigorous question set once an interviewee presents a topic worth further discussion (Mannan, n.d.). The optimal number of questions in the questionnaire is twelve open questions, as in such a way, the interviewees would feel comfortable and not tired of responding, whereas the discussion might develop in another direction regarding the answers.
The questionnaire itself will be divide into four categories according to the objectives outlined in the introduction to the research. Thus, the first block of questions will be dedicated to the identification of personal information of the interviewee, including the notions of social status, ethnic affiliation (Black African, Black Caribbean, or Black other, as indicated by the UK Census), and age. Another question segment would concern the aspects of the role maternity care plays in the interviewee’s life (prenatal care, postpartum/maternity leave). The follow-up questions will then address whether the interviewees have ever faced the manifestation of either explicit or implicit racism in the context of maternity care. The subsequent block will be dealing with whether the interviewees are aware of the maternity care support provided by the NHS, such as the NHS Long Term Plan and its initiatives in terms of racial disparities (NHS, 2020). Finally, the last question block will concern the peculiarities of maternal care provision under the COVID-19 circumstances.
In order to address the aforementioned problems properly, it is of crucial importance to carefully choose the study sample. Thus, for this research, the term ‘sample’ will be used to address Black females from the UK in perinatal care. The best-case scenario for the sample size would be to encompass more than 100 females who were either in maternity care over the past two years or were enrolled in the maternity care program during the pandemic outbreak. The age range of the sample is not limited, yet it would be important to work with size-balanced age groups, meaning that the representatives of each age group should constitute approximately equal quantity. Moreover, in order to comply with the fundamentals of the intersectionality approach, it would be beneficial to include the representatives of various social groups. However, as far as ethical considerations in terms of the primary research are concerned, it is of crucial importance to take into account the fact that some Black women in the UK are unlikely to share sensitive information due to the privacy risks and fear of explicit racism manifestation (Bracken-Roche et al., 2017). Thus, when collecting primary data, the option of encoding personal names for the sake of privacy will be adopted.
When dealing with such notions as race and equity in the social paradigm, it is of paramount importance to understand that the qualitative research conducted in terms of intersectional approach will never be entirely objective. Thus, while regarding race, sex, and social class as purely social constructs, the best way to analyze the data obtained is not to isolate it from the personal perception of the environment. In order to do so, interpretivism and hermeneutics, in particular, will be applied to analyze the responses. According to the researchers, hermeneutics may be defined as the ability to look into the context of any ‘text’ or communicative situation (Ryan, 2018). The very idea of the interpretivist approach is considered beneficial by various researchers as far as social research is concerned.
Thus, according to Crotty (2004), researchers willing to obtain a better perspective on the individuals’ perception of various evidence-based concepts are likely to benefit more from looking into the deep structure of the text. This implies respecting the fundamentals of hermeneutics. In such a way, a researcher is able to read into the message provided by the interviewees to identify the foundation for implicit bias and racial disparities in the maternity care paradigm.
Conclusion
The following research paper outline was aimed at defining some of the major steps towards analyzing the empirical data concerning the experiences of Black women in the UK maternity care. In the introduction, the major research question and objectives of the research were identified. The conceptual framework of the potential research contained the definition of intersectionality and its primary constituents, including sex, race, and social class. Moreover, the following framework was analyzed on the matter of appropriateness for future research. The methodology section identified the empirical ways of obtaining data for qualitative research.
NHS. (2020) NHS boosts support for pregnant black and ethnic minority women. Web.
Ryan, G. (2018) ‘Introduction to positivism, interpretivism, and critical theory,’ Nurse Researcher, 25(4), pp.41-49. Web.
Sakellariou, D. and Rotarou, E.S. (2017) ‘Access to healthcare for men and women with disabilities in the UK: secondary analysis of cross-sectional data. BMJ Open, 7(8). Web.