CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2025
| Author | Radonjic, Una |
|---|---|
| Title | Not At All Costs: Serbian Non-Mothers discussing Motherhood |
| Summary | The purpose of this study is to understand what draws women further or closer to becoming mothers, in order to contribute to the conversation about (non)-motherhood and childfree women, in the context of increasing number of women worldwide who identify as childfree or forgo motherhood. I interviewed 12 women from Serbia who are not mothers and who are urban and with university education, to test, by using qualitative research, the idea that the motivation for motherhood as the “central goal in life” decreases with the increase of level of education (Tomanović, 2017, p.7). However, in my findings, only one woman identified herself as childfree, while others were desiring or keeping motherhood as an open option for the future. My findings show that women are still drawn to motherhood in order to conform to femininity and they ideally envision motherhood within the straight path of marriage and reproduction that promises “good life” (Ahmed, 2006), in a relationship that is stable, secure and based on the intimacy, love and equality between partners who embark on parenthood equally committed and motivated. At the same time, this group of women shows a high level of awareness about the difficulties of mothering in a neoliberal capitalist and patriarchal motherhood regime in Serbia (Vilenica, 2013), and as a consequence they were postponing the transition in wait for better economic and personal conditions. Ultimately, by using a qualitative approach I was able to capture the nuances and heterogeneity in women’s deliberation and introspection about motherhood, with the hope that this thesis would open a more complex and open conversation about different (non)-motherhood institutions, practices, and affective experiences, and critically explore different paths regarding (non)-motherhood transition. |
| Supervisor | Fodor, Eva |
| Department | Gender Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2025/radonjic_una.pdf |
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