Motherhood Doesn't Make a Woman

In this excerpt from How To Be a Woman, Moran argues that women should only have babies if they want to and that women can gain wisdom through other life experiences besides being a mother.To prove this she shares personal experiences, discusses the environment effect of reproducing and evaluates the lives and success of others. Her first experience is when her Editor requests more information about when her interviewees will have children. Because the question is always “when” and not “if”, it proves that society expects all women to have children. This leads to a bigger question - when will you willingly end your career. Her next experience is when she describes raising her new born. From her personal experience with motherhood, she felt removed from the world around her and that her morals and other important things were pushed to the side to make room for baby. She felt that she was unable to contribute to society the way she did before, and goes further to suggest that society would suffer if doctors and scientists could not contribute due to motherhood. Reproducing also has a negative effect on the environment which Moran uses as evidence to further prove that not everyone should be pressured to have a child. The expectation is for all women to have babies but rarely does society take into consideration all of the resources that each child will use up. Moran illuminates the double standard between men and women when it comes to having children. She  reveals how she was never asked to question her male interviewees about when they would have kids. She also discusses how men such as Van Gogh and Batman have been able to be very successful without children. She also uses Coco Chanel as an example. She was a very successful woman who achieved many things without motherhood defining her. I feel as if Moran adequately supports her claims through the evidence that she provides throughout the text.