A Study of Ellen Key's Thought about the Ideology of Motherhood

Abstract

Topics about today's family problems and women's roles are debated very actively recently. In this context, there is an interst in how “the modern family” and sexual division of labor emerged in the study of family history and women's studies.
The ideology of motherhood emerged during the period of the women's liberation movement at the biginning of this century : Ellen Key was known as a typical thinker about motherhood at that time. Through her thought, I believe we can understand how people, especially women came to accept the idea of “two-sexes-different-but-equal” favorably in those days. Her position on this should be clarified in this paper. To understand this better, the socio-economical circumstances at that time in Sweden, her home country, are considered.
She insisted that women shold be seen not as “humankind” but as “womanhood.” She thought mtherhood was the very essential core part of womanhood, so she insisted that every wife or mother should stay home all day long, and put her children first, and that that was very rewarding work. Such ideas are considered to contribute to the formation of the ideology that women's place is in the home, by giving high priority to love, marriage and motherhood.