ABSTRACT
Policies ranging from the licensing of parenthood to the legitimization of motherhood in cases of enovulation, from sterilization to compulsory genetic screening are increasingly called for. Various major paradigms have guided policy-relevant research on motherhood, the demographic and the functionalist. In addition to experimental research, there has been important work on the state of the art. Although the demographic paradigm deals largely with the reproductive component of motherhood, its policy recommendations have also had to do with the work component. The components of good motherhood included satisfaction of the legitimate needs of mothers as well as of their children. The concept of motherhood is used rather than the term maternal role in order to indicate more clearly the perspective implied. Motherhood involves the whole institutional framework in which the bearing, raising, and socialization of children takes place; the maternal role bears down more specifically on the woman vis-a-vis her children.
