The thesis is: Motherhood as female subordination : A study of Simone de Beauvoir´s elucidation of motherhood and social structures

The aim of this essay is to study motherhood in The second sex by Simone de Beauvoir and see how it deepens the differences between men and women. I will show how it actually can be seen as something that minimize womens transcendence and moves them towards immanens. Beauvoirs thesis in The second sex is that motherhood is a construction of society and not a natural heritage. The analysis takes its point of departure in Sheila Heti´s Motherhood from 2019 were she describes how motherhood can be seen as a restriction for women. For men on the other hand, fatherhood has not the same consequences for career, social life and impact on their bodies. Men can accordingly stay in their transcendence while women are forced to immanens. In A very easy death Beauvoir describes her childhood and how her mother was oppressed and in a way that she didn´t want to recognize. Therefore Beauvoir came to the conclusion that motherhood keeps women at home and make it easier to control them. I argue that primarily Beauvoirs Hegelian analysis show us how women have become the Second. We can see how complicated the relationship between man and women is and how its asymmetry affects motherhood. Despite what entry we may take on motherhood, I argue that we must question everything we take for granted as natural motherhood; both individually and as a group. There is no other way to enforce women´s transcendence.