From housewife to working woman : A qualitative study of motherhood in the magazines Husmodern and Mama.

Our purpose with the study was to investigate how the image of a mother’s role is created by the magazines Mama and Husmodern. Mama is an existing magazine, but Husmodern ceased to exist in 1988. Both magazines focus on children, fashion and housework. We wanted to know what qualities you need to become a good or a bad mother. Also who is allowed to give advices on motherhood? We compared the magazines to find out how the mother´s role has changed over time. For that we used six issues of Mama from the year 2011, and six issues of Husmodern from the years between 1941 and 1959. The result of the research shows that mothers, now as well as in the 1940-1950's, are expected to put their children first. Nowadays, in Mama’s context, she is also expected to work. It is no longer socially acceptable to live as a housewife, which was the ideal in the magazine Husmodern. The result also shows that mothers, according to Mama, are in a constant state of stress. The magazine tries to offer them solutions for their stress-related problems. Husmodern on the other hand, puts a greater emphasis on moral, and offers the readers their moral values