Patriarchal Returns: A Study of the Symbolic Order of the Mother

Abstract

Why is the emancipation of women nullified in moments of historical crisis? This is the case of the current pandemic crisis, which thrusts into relief a historical regression in terms of women’s emancipation. Women are experiencing what might be called a “patriarchal return” to the past. This thesis attends to such a return. The discussion takes its cue from the Covid-19 Pandemic, which has created a childcare crisis and clearly revealed that motherhood is still construed as a substitute for services that institutions and the community should provide. The study launches a re-examination of motherhood: it (i) asks what a mother is; (ii) discusses the paradox at the root of a woman’s identity, whereby, no matter what their social identity is, women who are mothers are seen first and foremost as the main child-caregiver; (iii) reconsiders the symbolic order of the mother, an order of fixed beliefs, images and ideas, that presents mothers as the glue to what holds a society together.