CHOICE CHANCE CHALLANGE - Biografie individuali e dinamiche sociali nella maternità contemporanea

In the previous decade, the family underwent some important changes. An analysis of recent studies clearly points out how such transformations are associated with the perception of the family in terms of a diversified entity – both with regard to its structure and to the relationships within it. Nowadays we talk about the pluralization of forms, new families and new parents, and of the changes and the variations in the way of becoming a family or being one. Consequently, we cannot but consider how the feminine figure of both woman and mother has drastically changed. Thus motherhood takes the form of a complex social phenomenon. Due to her own agency, a woman can thus choose whether or not to become a mother – and its accompanying appointed time and conditions. The fertility of Italian women has witnessed a serious decrease. The number of children per woman has now reached 1.39, which is certainly far from 2.1 – figure which guarantees generational change. Notwithstanding, the majority of women still perceives motherhood both as a rewarding and a sought-after phase of life. This research has been carried out by means of 80 semi-structured interviews with women aged between 40 and 50 who have reached motherhood in different ways – be they biological mothers, adoptive mothers, women who achieved pregnancy through assisted reproductive technology, women without any children. Research aims at discovering the factors which come into play in behind one’s decision. Yet, it is believed that each choice aims at balancing a woman’s personal and structural dimensions – the former being related to one’s manifold phases of life, the latter to their socio-cultural environment. This investigation has revealed a more recurring presence of ascriptive factors such as one’s experiences in the family she was raised and one’s personal way to act, which is part and parcel of one’s choosing of her partner and of one’s achieving of goals. Ascriptive factors have thus shadowed contextual factors (such as employment and financial stability), as well as the presence of a system of social services to support parenting and early childhood.