{"id":43523,"date":"2025-03-26T08:19:40","date_gmt":"2025-03-26T14:19:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/publicsquaremag.org\/?p=43523"},"modified":"2025-03-26T08:19:40","modified_gmt":"2025-03-26T14:19:40","slug":"feminisms-impact-modern-motherhood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/publicsquaremag.org\/faith\/proclamation-on-the-family\/feminisms-impact-modern-motherhood\/","title":{"rendered":"When Mothering Is a Sacrifice: Feminism and the Lost Art of Consecration"},"content":{"rendered":"

Note: This is the second article in a three-article series on <\/span>The Family: A Proclamation to the World<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/picture> Download Print-Friendly Version<\/a><\/p>\n

Mothers are not as appreciated as they should be. Not yours, not ours. One low point of ingratitude that many readers will recall is the melodic line from <\/span>Saturday\u2019s Warrior<\/span><\/i> that intones, \u201cZero population is the answer, my friend.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

However, we first-world nations are getting a rude wake-up call. A primary and ever-worsening concern in most developed countries is \u201cbelow-replacement level\u201d population rates low enough to weaken the base of the population pyramid in nations like the United States. Harvard-trained economist Catherine Pakaluk recently summarized in her book-length study <\/span>Hannah\u2019s Children<\/span><\/i><\/a>,<\/span><\/p>\n

The political and economic consequences of these trends cannot be overstated. Below- replacement fertility in the United States imperils every New Deal-era entitlement program, every state pension program, and the future of economic prosperity as workers become scarce.(1)<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So, given that zero population growth is not the answer but the problem, what <\/span>is<\/span><\/i> the answer? Pakaluk demonstrates that social policy has little power to push the fertility needle upward and posits that significant commitment to \u201creligion [is] the only effective family policy\u201d(2)<\/span> that can promote measurable change in some families. Indeed, social science has repeatedly found that religiously involved women are more likely to remain married, to become married mothers, and to have more children.(3)<\/span> Perhaps we should go back to the beginning\u2014Genesis, to be precise.<\/span><\/p>\n

At the Beginning: Eve as the Mother of All Living<\/b><\/h3>\n

In connection with God\u2019s command to \u201cBe fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth\u201d (<\/span>Genesis 1:28<\/span><\/a>), President Dallin H. Oaks has taught that Eve\u2019s act was \u201ca glorious necessity to open the doorway toward eternal life\u201d and that we are to \u201ccelebrate Eve\u2019s act and honor her wisdom and courage in the great episode called the Fall.\u201d(4)<\/span><\/p>\n

Former counselor in the General Relief Society Presidency, Sheri Dew, observed, \u201cOf all the words they could have chosen to define her role and her essence, both God the Father and Adam called Eve \u2018the mother of all living,\u2019 and they did so <\/span>before<\/span><\/i> she ever bore a child. \u2026 Motherhood is more than bearing children. \u2026 It is the essence of who we are as women.\u201d(5)<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Writing about Eve and her decision to partake of the fruit, Professor Valerie Hudson said, \u201cOnly a daughter of God could open the door to mortal life for God\u2019s children. \u2026 Eve was perhaps the most courageous and wise of all God\u2019s daughters \u2026 .\u201d(6)<\/span> Hudson also posited that as one \u201cwho would bear the responsibility of bringing all of the children through the doorway, and risk [her] life in this task, [she] had the right to make that decision.\u201d(7)<\/span> How grateful we are for our own mothers who made \u201cthat decision\u201d in their own time and welcomed us into mortal family life with courage and at a sacrifice beyond price.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Motherhood is \u201cToo Expensive\u201d: A Cultural View<\/b><\/h3>\n

Motherhood involves significant time, effort, and forgoing of various personal freedoms. It is perhaps the most profound expression of personal sacrifice for another. In a world in which autonomous pleasure-seeking is considered \u201cthe good life,\u201d motherhood can appear far too expensive. Given this considerable, perhaps inestimable, expense, many wrestle with the Proclamation\u2019s statement: \u201cMothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children\u201d (para. 7).<\/span><\/p>\n

Feminism in the United States and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have an intriguing history. The roots of the women\u2019s suffrage movement are a rich starting point. Lisa Reeves, currently doing graduate work at Harvard, recently \u201cverified with the church history department that on her death bed <\/span>Susan B. Anthony<\/span><\/a> took off her ring and instructed for it to be sent to her dear friend, fellow suffragette, and General Relief Society President Emmeline Wells.\u201d(8)<\/span> It is important to note that significantly preceding the 19<\/span>th<\/span> Amendment in 1920, the <\/span>first four states to grant women the right to vote<\/span><\/a> were Wyoming and Utah (1869-70), then Colorado (1893) and Idaho (1896). Each of these states had relatively heavy Latter-day Saint populations and influence.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

However, as feminism broke into additional \u201cwaves\u201d (in the 1960s and 1990s), the distance between first- and second-wave feminism and the Church began to grow over core issues, including motherhood, marriage, and family.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For many first-wave feminists, the needed push for greater equality between men and women meant that motherhood itself compromised the progress of women. The work of caring for another dependent soul <\/span>meant that women had to \u201csubordinate their personal objectives\u201d in doing the non-prestigious work of feeding, clothing, and cleaning another dependent life again and again and again. Such work was clearly not a path to power and success. So why should women have to do it?(9)<\/span> Caregiving labor became identified with women\u2019s oppression. Children came to be viewed as a liability\u2014expensive, inconvenient, and an encroachment on personal fulfillment. In the eyes of some, fairness seemed to demand her liberation from such work and the family responsibilities associated with it.<\/span><\/p>\n

But rather than challenge the attitudes that had devalued women and call men into greater participation in this most important work of nurturing life, the new woman advocated for by radical feminists ironically looked more like \u201cthe old man\u201d they had criticized.(10)<\/span> By crossing the line into contempt for motherhood, feminist ideas that had intended to elevate women became self-defeating. The \u201cnew woman\u201d meant embracing a view of life that rejected the world of the traditionally feminine. Only achievements measured by public recognition, financial remuneration, and prestige (those markers that had defined success in a \u201cman\u2019s world\u201d) had meaning. Caring for the vulnerable, including children, was viewed as a transition of loss for women.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Certainly, women have benefitted from feminist efforts to secure educational, professional, and political opportunities. But an honest look at the increased feminization of poverty, out-of-wedlock childbearing, and decreased happiness among women also reflects the challenges resulting from dismantling the protections of the institutions of marriage and family that had been identified as women\u2019s \u201cenemy.\u201d(11)<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In the decades since, with a world awash in an epidemic of loneliness and a crisis in meaning, identity, and purpose, we witness why the core relationships of life that we call family are not the enemy, nor is it merely the \u201cbackdrop\u201d for the Plan. The family <\/span>is<\/span><\/i> the Plan\u2014for women as well as men.<\/span><\/p>\n

Motherhood is So Expensive It Requires Consecration: A Gospel View<\/b><\/h3>\n

Former Relief Society General President Sister Julie B. Beck taught that \u201cwithout the family, there is no [eternal] plan; there is no reason for mortal life.\u201d(12)<\/span> In the Proclamation, prophets testify of all three elements Sister Beck outlined: 1. the Family, 2.\u201cthe Creator\u2019s plan for the eternal destiny of His children,\u201d and 3. the \u201csanctity of life and of its importance in God\u2019s eternal plan\u201d (para. 5).\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If life matters, then a mother matters, for without her, there is no life. If eternal life matters, then a mother matters eternally, for without her, there is no eternal life.<\/i><\/b> Giving mortal life, however, is profoundly expensive\u2014so expensive that it is not merely a sacrifice but something more. Elder David A. Bednar affirmed: \u201cThe word consecrate means to develop and to \u2018dedicate to a sacred purpose.\u2019 \u2026The best application of the principle of consecration that I can think of, being developed and dedicated to a sacred purpose, is motherhood.\u201d(13)<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In Latter-day scripture, the relationship between \u201clight\u201d and \u201clife\u201d is especially close\u2014with Jesus being called \u201cthe light and the life of the world; yea, a light that is endless, that can never be darkened\u201d (Mosiah <\/a><\/span>16:9<\/span><\/a>).(14)<\/span> It is therefore both fitting and beautiful that \u201cthe Spanish phrase for giving birth, <\/span>dar la luz<\/span><\/i> [means] \u2018to give the light\u2019\u201d (Hudson & Miller, 2012, p. 39). This may also add greater insight into the divine calling of a mother when Jesus Himself says, \u201cAnd whoso shall receive one such little child in my\u00a0name receiveth me,\u201d the light of the world (<\/span>Matthew 18:5<\/span><\/a>). Again, how grateful we are for the mothers who \u201creceived\u201d us and gave us light and life.<\/span><\/p>\n

A Social Science Look: Righteous Mothers Not Only Give Life, They Make It Better<\/b><\/h3>\n

A 1942 First Presidency statement proclaimed, \u201cMotherhood is near to divinity. It is the highest, holiest service to be assumed by mankind. It places her who honors its holy calling and service next to the angels.\u201d(15)\u00a0 President David O. McKay declared: \u201cMotherhood is the greatest potential influence either for good or ill in human life. The mother\u2019s image is the first that stamps itself on the unwritten page of the young child\u2019s mind. It is her caress that first awakens a sense of security, her kiss, the first realization of affection; her sympathy and tenderness, the first assurance that there is love in the world.\u201d(16)<\/p>\n

These gifts of a first \u201csense of security,\u201d first kiss, first touch, and \u201cfirst assurance that there is love in the world\u201d referenced by President McKay were later packaged into the phrase \u201cmaternal sensitivity\u201d by attachment theorist and psychologist Mary Ainsworth. Ainsworth and colleagues found that this essential \u201cmaternal sensitivity\u201d and mother-child attachment mattered well beyond infancy.(17) One leading family therapist and researcher summarily emphasized that \u201cThe first six years of life are when the template for later life is set down.\u201d(18) Even so, potent influences and connections are also evident during the teenage years:<\/p>\n

Studies consistently indicate that adolescents who report telling their mothers where they are going and what they will be doing after school and on weekends also report lower rates of alcohol misuse, drug use, sexual activity, and delinquency. Children\u2019s academic success and healthy behaviors have also been tied to their mothers\u2019 involvement in talking with them, listening to them, and answering their questions.(19)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A recent Wheatley Institute Brief Report(20) further highlights the following four social science findings regarding mothers\u2019 influence not only in childhood but \u201cthroughout life\u201d:<\/p>\n

1 – \u201cMaternal sensitivity to their infants has been identified as the strongest, most consistent predictor of a child\u2019s cognitive, social, and emotional development\u201d (p. 2).<\/p>\n

2 – \u201cMothers are the foundational influence on children\u2019s emotional capacity, and typically the preferred source of comfort in times of stress\u201d (p. 2).<\/p>\n

3 \u2013 \u201c[M]others draw on their emotional connections to their children as the source of their authority, using more reasoning and flexibility in carrying out discipline\u201d (p. 3).<\/p>\n

4 \u2013 \u201cA mother\u2019s early attachment to a child through responsive, consistent bonding has been repeatedly shown to shape personality development, behavior, and social capacity, including the ability to form healthy attachments with others throughout life\u201d (p. 3).\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCircumstances May Require Individual Adaptation\u201d<\/b><\/h3>\n

With respect to various work arrangements and life challenges that mothers face, former counselor in the General Relief Society Presidency, Sister Cheiko Okazaki, urged and encouraged the \u201cwomen of the Church to be supportive and sharing, to refrain from judging one another, and to remember that circumstances often constrain choices.\u201d(21)<\/span><\/p>\n

President M. Russell Ballard similarly emphasized,<\/span><\/p>\n

Each of you must come to know what the Lord wants for you individually, given the choices before you. Once you know the Lord\u2019s will, you can then move forward in faith to fulfill your individual purpose. One sister may be inspired to continue her education and attend medical\u00a0<\/span>school. For another sister, inspiration may lead her to forego a scholarship to a prestigious institution and instead begin a family much earlier than has become common in this generation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Is it possible for two similarly faithful women to receive such different responses to the same basic questions? Absolutely. What\u2019s right for one woman may not be right for another. That\u2019s why it is so important that we should not question each other\u2019s choices or the inspiration behind them.(22)<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Mothers, \u201cThis is Your Great Day\u201d<\/b><\/h3>\n

Whatever our context, Sister Marjorie P. Hinckley has reminded mothers to \u201chave joy in your mothering \u2026 don\u2019t wish away your days of caring for \u2026 children. This is your great day.\u201d(23)<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We conclude this article with the following thoughts of the first author, who is a mother herself:\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Who could measure the privilege of creating within one\u2019s own body the body of another? Where in all the world can there be greater power than this? I recently sat beside a new mother. Her infant, just 6 weeks old, was still struggling to nurse and bottle feed. His utter dependence struck me. He gazed directly into his mother\u2019s face, locking his eyes on hers. In spite of having no real capacities, it was clear that he recognized her. I could see in his eyes that she was his entire world. For a second, his mouth broke into a smile, and I watched her exhaustion give way to radiance. Can we possibly measure what it means to the expansion of our own purpose, meaning and identity, to bring another life into being and to be their entire world? To quite literally enter eternity, becoming part of the past and the future forever? To have the privilege of knowing and witnessing the divinity of another and to make possible their eternal life?\u00a0 This is what motherhood means.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

References:<\/strong><\/p>\n

(1)\u00a0\u00a0Pakaluk, C. R. (2024). <\/span>Hannah\u2019s Children<\/span><\/i>. Regnery Gateway. (p. 30).<\/span><\/p>\n

(2)\u00a0\u00a0Ibid, p. 337<\/span><\/p>\n

(3)\u00a0Marks, L. D., Dollahite, D. C., & Freeman, J. J. (2012). Faith and prayer in family life. In A. J. Hawkins, D. C.\u00a0<\/span>Dollahite, & T. W. Draper (Eds.), <\/span>Successful marriages and family life<\/span><\/i> (pp. 185\u2013195). BYU Studies.<\/span><\/p>\n

(4)\u00a0Oaks, D. H. (1993, November). The great plan of happiness. <\/span>Ensign, 32<\/span><\/i>, 72-75. (Quote from p. 73). See also\u00a0<\/span>Hawkins, A. J., Spangler, D. L., Hudson, V., Dollahite, D. C., Klein, S. R., Rugh, S. S., Fronk, C. A., Draper, R. D.,\u00a0<\/span>Sorensen, A. D., Wardle, L. D., & Hill, E. J. (2000). In D. C. Dollahite (ed.), <\/span>Strengthening our families: An in-depth\u00a0<\/span><\/i>look at The Proclamation on the Family<\/span><\/i>. Bookcraft.<\/span><\/p>\n

(5)\u00a0\u00a0Dew, S. L. (2001, November). Are we not all mothers? <\/span>Ensign, <\/span><\/i>96-97.<\/span><\/p>\n

(6)\u00a0Hudson, V. M., & Miller, R. B. (2012). Equal partnership between men and women in families. In A. J. Hawkins,\u00a0<\/span>D. C. Dollahite, & T. W. Draper (Eds.), <\/span>Successful marriages and family life<\/span><\/i> (pp. 38-48). BYU Studies (p. 39).<\/span><\/p>\n

(7) Hudson, V. (2010). <\/span>The Two Trees<\/span><\/i>. Speech delivered at the 12<\/span>th<\/span> Annual FairMormon Conference. Salt Lake City, UT; as cited in M. W. Brown (2020), <\/span>Eve and Adam<\/span><\/i>. Deseret Book, p. 91).<\/span><\/p>\n

(8)\u00a0\u00a0Personal email communication to the second author, January 19, 2025.<\/span><\/p>\n

(9) Polatnik, M. R. (1983). Why men don\u2019t rear children: A power analysis. In J. Treblicot (ed.), <\/span>Mothering: Essays in Feminist Theory. <\/span><\/i>Roman and Allanheld (p. 35). <\/span><\/p>\n

(10)\u00a0\u00a0Elshtain, J. B. (1982). Feminism, family, and community. <\/span>Dissent, <\/span><\/i>29, 442-449.<\/span><\/p>\n

(11)\u00a0\u00a0Erickson, J. J. (2014). Motherhood: Restoring clarity and vision in a world of confusing messages. In B. L. Top & M. A. Goodman (eds.), <\/span>By divine design<\/span><\/i> (pp. 161-191). BYU Religious Studies Center\/Deseret Book<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

(12) Beck, J. B. (2011, March). Teaching the Doctrine of the Family<\/em><\/a>. <\/span>Ensign<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

(13) Bednar, D. A. (1999). Your Whole Souls as an Offering Unto Him. <\/a><\/span>Ricks College Devotional, January 5, 1999. <\/span><\/i>Retrieved November 15, 2012<\/span><\/p>\n

(14)\u00a0\u00a0See also Doctrine & Covenants 88:13; Doctrine & Covenants 93:9.<\/span><\/p>\n

(15)\u00a0\u00a0The First Presidency (1942, October). The message of the First Presidency in Conference Report 759, 761.<\/span><\/p>\n

(16)McKay, D. O. (1983). <\/span>Gospel ideals: Selections from the discourses of David O. McKay. <\/span><\/i>Deseret Book (p. 452).<\/span><\/p>\n

(17) Ainsworth, M. D. S., Blehar, M. C., Waters, E., & Wall, S. (1978). <\/span>Patterns of attachment. <\/span><\/i>Erlbaum. <\/span><\/p>\n

(18)\u00a0\u00a0Doherty, W. J. (2000). <\/span>Take back your kids<\/span><\/i>. Sorin.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

(19)\u00a0\u00a0Erickson, 2014, (p. 175).<\/span><\/p>\n

(20) Erickson, J. J., & Carroll, J. S. (2024). It takes two: What we learn from the social sciences about\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 the importance of mothers and fathers and divine complementarity in parenting. Wheatley Institute; See also full-length article: Erickson, J. J. (2023). It takes two. <\/span>BYU Studies Quarterly<\/a>, 62:<\/span><\/i> Iss. 1, Article 2.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

(21)\u00a0\u00a0Okazaki, C. N. (1994, November). Rowing your boat. <\/span>Ensign, 24,<\/span><\/i> 92\u201394. See also Hawkins et al., 2000, p. 73.<\/span><\/p>\n

(22)\u00a0Ballard, M. R. (2019, July 23). <\/span>Women have remarkable influence <\/span><\/i><\/a>[Status update]. Facebook.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How does motherhood enrich life? In a world where pleasure-seeking rules, its deep joy and purpose shine through.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":50,"featured_media":43524,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2038],"tags":[147,12,115,242,1085,181,125,20,589,397,149,309,110,766,590],"coauthors":[253,231],"class_list":["post-43523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-proclamation-on-the-family","tag-culture","tag-empathy","tag-faith","tag-family","tag-family-proclamation","tag-feminism","tag-identity","tag-marriage","tag-motherhood","tag-parenting","tag-religion","tag-sacrifice","tag-social-science","tag-society","tag-women"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFeminism\u2019s Impact on Modern Motherhood<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Feminism and motherhood shape identity, family, and society. 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