Numerous terms redirect here. For other uses see Mother (disambiguation) Mom (disambiguation) Mommy (disambiguation) Moms (disambiguation) Mum (disambiguation) Motherhood (film) Mothering (magazine). Migrant Mother by Dorothea Lange

A mother mom mum momma or mama is a woman who has conceived given birth to or raised a child in the role of a parent.1 Because of the complexity and differences of a mother's social cultural and religious definitions and roles it is challenging to define a mother to suit a universally accepted definition. The male equivalent is a father. Contents 1 Biological mother 2 Non-biological mother 2.1 Surrogate mother 3 Lesbian motherhood 4 Social role 5 US motherhood statistics 6 Religious 7 Synonyms and translations 8 Famous motherhood figures 9 See also 10 References 11 Further reading Biological mother

In the case of a mammal such as a human a pregnant woman gestates a fertilized ovum. A fetus develops from the viable fertilized ovum or "embryo." Gestation occurs in the woman's uterus from conception until the fetus (assuming it is carried to term) is sufficiently developed to be born. The woman experiences labor and gives birth. Usually once the baby is born the mother produces milk via the lactation process. The mother's breast milk is the source of anti-bodies for the infant's immune system and commonly the sole source of nutrition for the first year or more of the child's life.234 Non-biological mother Monumento a la Madre in Mexico City. The inscription translates as: "To her who loves us before she meets us."

Mother can often apply to a woman other than the biological parent especially if she fulfills the main social role in raising the child. This is commonly either an adoptive mother or a stepmother (the biologically unrelated wife of a child's father). The term "othermother" or "other mother" is also used in some contexts for women who provide care for a child not biologically their own in addition to the child's primary mother. Surrogate mother Main article: Surrogacy

A surrogate mother is commonly a woman who bears an embryo that is from another woman's fertilized ovum to term for a couple biologically unable to have children. Thus she carries and gives birth to a child that is she not the biological mother of. Note that this is different from a woman who becomes pregnant via in vitro fertilization.

Currently with advances in reproductive technologies the function of biological motherhood can be split between the genetic mother (who provides the ovum) and the gestational (commonly known as a surrogate) mother (who carries the pregnancy). Lesbian motherhood

The possibility for women in same-sex relationships to become mothers has increased over the past few decades thanks to new techniques and technology. Modern lesbian parenting originated with women who were in heterosexual relationships who later identified as lesbian as changing social conditions and attitudes provided more options and acceptance for those with homosexual orientations. Another way for lesbians to become mothers is through adopting and/or foster parenting. There is also the option of self-insemination and clinically assisted donor insemination these are forms of artificial insemination. As fertility technology has advanced more lesbians have become mothers through in vitro fertilization.56 Social role See also: Sociology of motherhood

Mothers have historically fulfilled the primary role in raising children but since the late 20th century the role of the father in child care has been given greater prominence and social acceptance in some Western countries.78

The social role and experience of motherhood varies greatly depending upon location. The organization Save the Children has ranked the countries of the world and found that Scandinavian countries are the safest places to give birth whereas countries in sub-Saharan Africa are the least safe to give birth.9 This study argues a mother in the bottom ten ranked countries is over 750 times more likely to die in pregnancy or childbirth compared to a mother in the top ten ranked countries and a mother in the bottom ten ranked countries is 28 times more likely to see her child die before reaching their first birthday.

Mothers are more likely than fathers to encourage assimilative and communion-enhancing patterns in their children.10 Mothers are more likely than fathers to acknowledge their children's contributions in conversation.11121314 The way mothers speak to their children is better suited to support very young children in their efforts to understand speech (in context of the reference English) than fathers.11 Since the 1970s in vitro fertilization has made pregnancy possible at ages well beyond "natural" limits generating ethical controversy and forcing significant changes in the social meaning of motherhood.1516 This is however a position highly biased by Western world locality: outside the Western world in-vitro fertilization has far less prominence importance or currency compared to primary basic healthcare women's basic health reducing infant mortality and the prevention of life-threatening diseases such as polio typhus and malaria. Also around the 1970s Western attitudes towards the role of women and mothers in society began to change. Females were given more opportunities within the workforce and this resulted in more females becoming mothers for the first time at a later age. This trend peaked within the 1990s but has since returned to a more traditional view point of fathers being the main breadwinner and mothers taking responsibility for the home and children.17 US motherhood statistics Assorted and non-inclusive statistics on motherhood from the US Census Bureau:18 82.5 million women are mothers of all ages in the United States. 68% of women aged 1544 are mothers in Mississippi considered high in comparison to a national average for same age group of 56%. 82% of women aged 4044 years old are mothers. 4.0 million women give birth annually approximately 425000 were teenage mothers (aged 1519) and more than 100000 were aged 40 or over. 25.1 years of age is the national average age of women for their first births a record high an increase of 4 years since 1970. 40% of annual births are the mother's first. Another 32% are the second-born; 17% third; and 11% fourth or more. 35000 births in 2002 were attended by physicians midwives or others outside a hospital facility. 55% of mothers with infant children in 2002 were employed down from the record 59% in 1998 the first significant decline since the Census Bureau began collating such data in 1976. In 1976 31% of mothers with infants were employed. 63% of employed women with infant children are college-educated. 72% of employed women between ages 15 and 44 are mothers without infants. 687000 child day-care centers operated in the USA in 2002. Of these 69000 centers employed close to 750000 workers and another 618000 were self-employed persons or companies without paid employees. Many mothers use such centers to juggle the demands of motherhood and career. Religious Nearly all world religions define tasks or roles for mothers through either religious law or through the deification or glorification of mothers who served in substantial religious events. There are many examples of religious law relating to mothers and women. Major world religions which have specific religious law or scriptural canon regarding mothers include: Christians19 Jews20 and Muslims.21 Some examples of glorification or deification include the Madonna or Blessed Virgin Mother Mary for Catholics the Hindu Mother Goddess or Demeter of ancient Greek pre-Christian belief. Synonyms and translations Main article: Mama and papa The proverbial "first word" of an infant often sounds like "ma" or "mama." This strong association of that sound with "mother" has persisted in nearly every language on earth countering the natural localization of language. Familiar or colloquial terms for mother in English are: Mom and mommy are used in the USA Canada South Africa Philippines and the West Midlands of England.citation needed Mum and mummy are used in the UK Canada Singapore Australia New Zealand and Ireland. Ma mam and mammy are used in Netherlands Ireland the Northern areas of the United Kingdom and Wales; it is also used in some areas of the United States. Maa aai amma and mata are used in India and sometimes in neighboring countries originating from the Sanskrit matrika and mata The Hindu mother goddess Parvati feeding her son the elephant-headed wisdom god Ganesha In many other languages similar pronunciations apply: mam ma and mami in Spanish language mama in Polish German Russian and Slovak mma (/) in Chinese mma in Czech and in Ukrainian maman in French and Persian ma mama in Indonesian mamma in Italian Icelandic and Swedish mame or me in Portuguese m () in Punjabi mama in Swahili em () in Hebrew ima () in Aramaic m or m in Vietnamese mam in Welsh eomma ( pronounced mma) in Korean In many south Asian cultures and the Middle East the mother is known as amma oma ammi or "ummi" or variations thereof. Many times these terms denote affection or a maternal role in a child's life. Famous motherhood figures Charity by Bouguereau 1878 Bachue Bithiah Demeter Yashoda Dewi Sri Eve Gaia Isis Jocasta Juno Kwan Yin Mary Parvati Queen Maya Sita Venus See also Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Mothers Look up mother in Wiktionary the free dictionary. Attachment parenting Blessed Virgin Mary Breastfeeding Human bonding Jungian archetypes Lactation Matriarch Matricide Matrilocal residence Mother goddess Mother Goose Mother insult Mother ship Mother's Day Mothers rights Nuclear family Oedipus complex Othermother Parenting Single-parent The mother of all References Definition from Allwords.com Dhushara.com Growth and Development Chapter 46 Animal Reproduction "Lesbian parenting: issues strengths and challenges". http://find.galegroup.com.offcampus.lib.washington.edu/gtx/infomark.do&contentSetIAC-Documents&typeretrieve&tabIDT002&prodIdAONE&docIdA96237890&sourcegale&userGroupNamewashmain&version1.0. Retrieved 2011-01-25.  Mezey Nancy J (2008). New Choices New Families: How Lesbians Decide about Motherhood. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 9780801890000.  "In most Western countries the family model of a sole male breadwinner is in full retreat." Accessed 19 September 2007. Why Are Fathers Important Interview with Dr. Ross Parke professor of psychology at the University of California at Riverside author of Fatherhood (1966) and co-author of Throwaway Dads (1999). Accessed 19 September 2007. Save the Children State of the World's Mothers Report 2006. Gendered differences in parents' encouragement of sibling interaction: implications for the construction of a personal premise system a b Fathers' speech to their children: perfect pitch or tin ear Hladik E. & Edwards H. (1984). A comparison of mother-father speech in the naturalistic home environment. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research 13 321332. Leaper C. Anderson K. & Sanders P. (1998). Moderators of gender effects on parents' talk to their children: A meta-analysis. Developmental Psychology 34 327. Mannle S. & Tomasello M. (1987). Fathers siblings and the bridge hypothesis. In K.E. Nelson & A. vanKleeck (Eds.) Children's language Vol. 6 (pp. 2342). Hillsdale NJ: Erlbaum. Motherhood: Is It Ever Too Late July 15 2009 Getting Pregnant After 50: Risks Rewards July 17 2009 "Australians more conservative on gender issues working mothers". Sydney Morning Hearld. 11 October 2010. http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/lifematters/attitudes-harden-towards-the-lot-of-a-working-mother-20101010-16e39.html. Retrieved 11 October 2010.  Census.gov "What The Bible Says About Mother". Mothers Day World. http://www.mothersdayworld.com/mothers-day-quotes/bible-verses-on-mother.html. Retrieved 2008-11-24.  Katz Lisa. "Religious Obligations of Jewish women". About.com. http://judaism.about.com/cs/women/f/womenmitzvot.htm. Retrieved 2008-11-24.  'Ali Al-Hashimi Muhammad. The Ideal Muslimah: The True Islmic Personality of the Muslim Woman as Defined in the Qur'n and Sunnah. Wisdom Enrichment Foundation Inc.. http://www.wefound.org/texts/IdealMuslimsfiles/herchildren.htm. Retrieved 2008-11-24.  Further reading Thornhill Randy; Gangestad Steven W.. The Evolutionary Biology of Human Female Sexuality. http://books.google.com/booksid5uVUwCE3Vm4C&dqThe+Evolutionary+Biology+of+Human+Female+Sexuality&printsecfrontcover&sourcebl&ots4FyUqx3Aon&sig3obt1PlgudQmqeubR22jRBwNJMs&hlen&eiPxwkSqfEOpi8M8PS7LYJ&saX&oibookresult&ctresult&resnum7#PPP13M1.  Manne Anne. Motherhood How should we care for our children. http://books.google.com/booksidKHdpcmuXBoC&printsecfrontcover&dqmotherhood.  Hrdy Sarah Blaffer. Mother nature: maternal instincts and how they shape the human species. http://books.google.com/booksidDcCOAAAAIAAJ&qmotherhood+biology&dqmotherhood+biology&lr&pgis1.  v d eFamily Household  Nuclear family  Complex family  Stepfamily  Dysfunctional family  template Parenting Immediate family Spouse (Husband Wife)  Parent (Father Mother)  Child (Son Daughter)  Sibling (Brother Sister) Extended family Grandparent  Uncle  Aunt  Cousin  Nephew  Niece  Common ancestor Family-in-law Father-in-law  Mother-in-law  Brother-in-law  Sister-in-law Kinship Consanguinity  Affinity  Fictive kinship  Marriage  Adoption  Divorce  Disownment Lineage Genealogy  Patrilineality  Matrilineality  Bilateral descent  Family tree  Pedigree  Family name  Heredity  Inheritance  Heirloom Relationships Familial love  Parental love  Marital love  Brotherly love  Filial piety  Veneration v d eArticles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights  General principles Article 1: Freedom Egalitarianism Dignity and Brotherhood Article 2: Universality of rights  International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights Article 1 and 2: Right to freedom from discrimination  Article 3: Right to life liberty and security of person  Article 4: Freedom from slavery  Article 5: Freedom from torture and cruel and unusual punishment  Article 6: Right to personhood  Article 7: Equality before the law  Article 8: Right to effective remedy from the law  Article 9: Freedom from arbitrary arrest detention and exile  Article 10: Right to a fair trial  Article 11.1: Presumption of innocence  Article 11.2: Prohibition of retrospective law  Article 12: Right to privacy  Article 13: Freedom of movement  Article 14: Right of asylum  Article 15: Right to a nationality  Article 16: Right to marriage and family life  Article 17: Right to property  Article 18: Freedom of thought conscience and religion  Article 19: Freedom of opinion and expression  Article 20.1: Freedom of assembly  Article 20.2: Freedom of association  Article 21.1: Right to participation in government  Article 21.2: Right of equal access to public office  Article 21.3: Right to universal suffrage  International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights Article 1 and 2: Right to freedom from discrimination  Article 22: Right to social security  Article 23.1: Right to work  Article 23.2: Right to equal pay for equal work  Article 23.3: Right to just remuneration  Article 23.4: Right to join a trade union  Article 24: Right to rest and leisure  Article 25.1: Right to an adequate standard of living  Article 25.2: Right to special care and assistance for mothers and children  Article 26.1: Right to education  Article 26.2: Human rights education  Article 26.3: Right to choice of education  Article 27.1: Right to participate in culture  Article 27.2: Right to intellectual property  Context limitations and duties Article 28: Social order  Article 29.1: Social responsibility   Article 29.2: Limitations of human rights  Article 29.3: The supremacy of the purposes and principles of the United Nations Article 30: Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein. 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