Magister Legum - LLM / Surrogacy on many occasions is referred to a million-dollar industry. Just like many countries, South Africa has prohibited commercial surrogacy, thus South Africa only permits altruistic surrogacy. The prohibition has consequences for third parties such as surrogacy agencies and surrogacy facilitators, as their right to occupation freedom which is guaranteed by the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, is limited. No right is absolute, any right can be limited if it can be proved that it is in the best interest of the public. The prohibition on commercial surrogacy is argued to be in the best interest of the public as it can lead to the exploitation of women and the commodification of children.

Magister Artium (Psychology) - MA(Psych) / for women to study at institutions of higher learning have increased, when compared to past generations. Despite this, student mothers, specifically, are confronted with the extra burden of parenting, together with their academic work. Using an exploratory approach, within a qualitative research design, this study aimed to explore perceptions and experiences of student mothers enrolled at the University of the Western Cape. Purposive sampling was used to recruit participants, who had at least one child and were registered for a full-time undergraduate degree at the institution. Four semi-structured focus groups were held, with five to seven participants each, entailing a total of 25 female students. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data, and Bronfenbrenner’s Process-Person-Context-Time model was adopted, which allowed for a nuanced understanding of the student mother within various contexts. The study received ethics approval, adhered to good ethical principles and was conducted with permission from the university’s registrar. Key themes related to the challenges experienced by student mothers were identified, including financial difficulties, and the stress of balancing their dual responsibilities of student and mother. Proximity to their children complicated their attempt to fulfil dual roles. Geographical distance from the child(ren) facilitated their performance as a student, but often at the expense of their role as mother, resulting in guilt. Close proximity to the child facilitated a closer bond with the child(ren), which impeded their academic performance. Familial support was noted as an important facilitator of performance. Family members often assisted with caregiving of the child, allowing the student mother to engage in her role as student. Some student mothers perceived a lack of support from the university, whilst others argued that it is their own responsibility to manage their commitments to study. Despite these difficulties, many student mothers found that motherhood was a motivation for them to study to secure a future for themselves and their child(ren).

In this research, the women ideals, during the 1930s have been studied based on the content of two women's magazines, Hertha and Husmodern. The purpose of the study was to look in to, how the ideals are expressed in each magazine, how the growing nationalism and the society’s social structure are affected by the design of the ideals, and then concluded in a comparison between the results of the magazines content. The study also had a gender perspective and was based on the theories gendersystem and genderorder. Results showed that ideals of beauty, ideals of housewives, motherhood and knowledge as ideals were indicated in the magazines, in different ways; through advertisements, articles and question columns. There was also a clear difference in which ideals the magazines expressed and also how they were expressed. In summary, the study showed that the prevailing societal changes after the First World War contributed to a process of change among Swedish women and they became increasingly aware of their rights and their independence. The study also showed that beauty- and body ideals became important ideals to follow as a Swedish woman.

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Through four novelists from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries-Haywood, Defoe, Austen, and Chopin-this work examines the way the mother's importance evolves throughout literature. In Haywood's works, motherhood is seen as a dominant force in her child's life, but not a dominant force in society. Defoe approaches motherhood in a dramatically different way; for him, motherhood is secondary to financial security, and this opinion is reflected in the lives and actions of his characters. In spite of the absence of a maternal influence, Austen's characters do not experience true hardship in the way that Haywood's and Defoe's do. However, their lives are adversely affected by this absence. Chopin's protagonist has never experienced a maternal influence, and this absence has dramatically affected her life. She is unsure about what she wants from life, and this knowledge, along with her realization of society's restrictions upon her, ultimately leads to her suicide.

The artist discusses her Master of Fine Arts thesis exhibition, Thou Art That, held in Slocumb Galleries, East Tennessee State University, from November 3-7, 2008. The exhibit consists of self-portraits in oil on stretched canvas painted between May and October 2008. Ideas explored include the creative power of limitation, metaphor, divinity, relationship, human development, life experience, and the bond between mother and child. Influences discussed include the written works and ideas of Joseph Campbell and Joseph Chilton Pearce, as well as the ideas of artist Judy Chicago, art critic Suzi Gablik, and the artwork of Gerhard Richter. Included is a complete catalogue of the paintings from Thou Art That.

The Greek tragedies of Classical Athens frequently portray mothers in central roles, but despite this significance, the relationship between mother and child has long been overshadowed in secondary scholarship by the relationship between husband and wife. This study demonstrates the direct relationship between a female character's active possession of her children and her autonomy, or her ability to act in her own interests, in three plays of Euripides: Electra, Medea, and Ion. In general, women who internalize their ownership of their children, expressed on stage both in word and action, have greater influence over the men around them and the power to enact the revenge they desire. Once their ends have been achieved, however, these tragic mothers often devalue their relationship with their children, leading to a decrease in power that restores the supremacy of the patriarchal order. Within this broad framework, Euripides achieves different results by adjusting aspects of this cycle of maternal empowerment. The Electra follows this outline just as its predecessor the Oresteia does; however, Euripides invents a fictional child for Electra, extending the concept of maternal empowerment to Electra and defining Clytemnestra as both mother and grandmother. In Medea, Euripides demonstrates the significance of Medea's children to her power, and Medea does devalue her children enough to destroy them, the source of her influence, but she is not punished and cannot be reabsorbed into the patriarchal structure, which leaves an audience with a heightened sense of anxiety at the threat of maternal empowerment. Finally, the Ion initially demonstrates a cycle similar to Medea: empowered by her ownership of the child she believes she has lost, Creusa attempts revenge against the young man who threatens her but is in fact her lost son. In the end, however, Creusa uses her empowerment to achieve recognition between mother and son and voluntarily relinquishes her ownership, resulting in a peaceful reabsorption into patriarchal society and a happy ending. Despite the variations on this cycle presented by Euripides, one theme persists: motherhood was both empowering and threatening, and it required strict male control to avoid tragic results. Thus as scholars of tragedy, we cannot ignore the mother-child relationship, not only for its power to illuminate the feminine, but also for its capacity to reveal the vulnerabilities of the masculine.

[pt] A presente pesquisa tem como objetivo investigar os primórdios da construção da maternidade, a partir da percepção de mulheres primíparas, na contemporaneidade. Para tanto, foi estudado de forma mais específica o que sustenta o desejo de ser mãe e as referências de maternidade para as recém-mães. Foram realizadas virtualmente entrevistas com dez mães primíparas; posteriormente, transcritas e submetidas ao método de análise de conteúdo, na modalidade categorial temática. Para fins de apresentação dos resultados, esta dissertação foi desdobrada em dois artigos. O primeiro investiga o desejo de ser mãe no cenário contemporâneo, enquanto o segundo, as referências de maternidade para as recém-mães. Observou-se que a maternidade é cada vez menos fruto de um mandato biológico, podendo ser mais questionada. Frente às ambivalências e dificuldades inerentes à escolha, adiar o projeto parental aparece como estratégia para grande parte das mulheres. As referências de maternidade são múltiplas, ainda predominantemente femininas, como aponta a literatura clássica. Contudo, parece haver tendência de mudança, a partir da crescente participação dos pais nesse contexto. Conclui-se que a maternidade é um processo de construção contínuo e que se tornar mãe exige alto grau de investimento psíquico, não sendo algo dado biologicamente. / [en] This research aims to investigate the beginnings of motherhood construction from the perception of primiparous women in contemporary times. For this, the support to the desire to be a mother and the motherhood references for new mothers were more specifically studied. Virtually interviews with ten primiparous mothers were carried out and then transcribed and submitted to the content analysis method, in the thematic category. For the purposes of presenting the results, this dissertation was divided into two articles. The first investigates the desire to be a mother in the contemporary scenario and the second, the references of motherhood for new mothers. It was observed that motherhood is less and less the result of a biological mandate and can be further questioned. In view of the ambivalences and difficulties inherent in the choice, postponing the parental project comes up as a strategy for most women. Motherhood references are multiple, still predominantly feminine, as pointed out by the classic literature. However, there seems to be a tendency to change, due to the increasing participation of fathers in this context. It is concluded that motherhood is a continuous construction process and that becoming a mother requires a high degree of psychic investment, not being something just biologically given.

[pt] A idealização da experiência subjetiva da mulher em relação à maternidade se contrasta com novos ideais femininos que não mais se restringem à maternidade e ao matrimônio. Com isso, as exigências advindas desse novo modelo de maternidade encontram-se em constante conflito com as conquistas femininas das últimas décadas. Nesta perspectiva, no presente trabalho abordaremos aspectos concernentes às ressonâncias psíquicas e às mudanças subjetivas que se forjam na nova mãe a partir do nascimento de um filho, fundamentais para o processo da construção da maternidade. Nosso intuito será apontar que os primeiros tempos da maternidade inauguram para a mulher um imprevisível e profundo trabalho psíquico, ancorado tanto em sua história pessoal quanto no contexto social no qual se vive, uma vez que o tornar-se mãe não está livre das suposições de seu tempo. / [en] The woman s idealization of the subjective experience of motherhood contrasts with the new feminine ideals which are no longer restricted to motherhood and marriage. Therefore, the demands arising from this new model of motherhood are in constant conflict with the female conquests of the last decades. With this perspective, in the present work we will approach aspects concerning the psychic resonances and the subjective changes that are molded in the new mother after the birth of a child, which are fundamental to the process of motherhood construction. Our intention will be to point out that the early days of motherhood inaugurate for women an unpredictable and deep psychic work, anchored both in their personal history and in the social context in which they live, since becoming a mother is not free from the assumptions of her time period.