ABSTRACT
This chapter starts with the author’s personal story of being a mother and gives an account of the emergence of the research topic. Then the historical background in which the three generations of mothers grew up and were/are mothers is outlined. It is impossible to describe all the important historical events across the 100 years that these women’s lives span, so a brief chronology of events for each generation is presented, followed by an outline of the major features of the historical context in which each generation of women lived. Finally, an outline is provided of the chapters that make up the book.
