127-460: A mother is the female parent of a child . A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth , by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring , or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of gestational surrogacy . A biological mother is the female genetic contributor to the creation of the infant, through sexual intercourse or egg donation . A biological mother may have legal obligations to
254-401: A cell splits itself in half. From a strict numbers perspective, a species that is half males/half females can produce half the offspring an asexual population can, because only the females are having offspring. Being male can also carry significant costs, such as in flashy sexual displays in animals (such as big antlers or colorful feathers), or needing to produce an outsized amount of pollen as
381-447: A disorganized attachment . Studies by Cicchetti et al. (1990, 1995) found that 80% of abused and maltreated infants in their sample exhibited disorganized attachment styles. Disorganized attachment is associated with a number of developmental problems, including dissociative symptoms, as well as depressive, anxious, and acting-out symptoms. "Attachment is an active process—it can be secure or insecure, maladaptive or productive." In
508-554: A " mommy track " rather than being entirely " career women ". Mothers may be stay at home mothers or working mothers . In recent decades there has been an increase in stay at home fathers too. Social views on these arrangements vary significantly by culture: in Europe for instance, in German-speaking countries there is a strong tradition of mothers exiting the workforce and being homemakers. Mothers have historically fulfilled
635-403: A "natural-born" heir apparent was replaced, a stark contrast to Roman traditions. The evolution of European law reflects this aversion to adoption. English common law , for instance, did not permit adoption since it contradicted the customary rules of inheritance. In the same vein, France's Napoleonic Code made adoption difficult, requiring adopters to be over the age of 50, sterile, older than
762-581: A Protestant minister, became appalled by the legions of homeless waifs roaming the streets of New York City. Brace considered the abandoned youth, particularly Catholics, to be the most dangerous element challenging the city's order. His solution was outlined in The Best Method of Disposing of Our Pauper and Vagrant Children (1859), which started the Orphan Train movement. The orphan trains eventually shipped an estimated 200,000 children from
889-493: A child for adoption. Adolescent mothers who released their children were more likely to reach a higher level of education and to be employed than those who kept their children. They also waited longer before having their next child. Most of the research that exists on adoption effects on the birth parents was conducted with samples of adolescents, or with women who were adolescents when carrying their babies—little data exists for birth parents from other populations. Furthermore, there
1016-432: A child not raised by her, such as an obligation of monetary support. An adoptive mother is a female who has become the child's parent through the legal process of adoption . A putative mother is a female whose biological relationship to a child is alleged but has not been established. A stepmother is a non-biological female parent married to a child's preexisting parent, and may form a family unit but generally does not have
1143-507: A child that she is not the biological mother of. Surrogate motherhood became possible with advances in reproductive technologies , such as in vitro fertilization . Not all women who become pregnant via in vitro fertilization are surrogate mothers. Surrogacy involves both a genetic mother, who provides the ovum, and a gestational (or surrogate) mother, who carries the child to term. The possibility for lesbian and bisexual women in same-sex relationships to become mothers has increased over
1270-524: 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. Adoption, in various forms, has been practiced throughout history, even predating human civilization. Modern systems of adoption, arising in the 20th century, tend to be governed by comprehensive statutes and regulations . In recent decades, international adoptions have become more and more common. Adoption in
1397-407: A child, or to provide care for a child, from which also derives the noun "mothering". Related terms of endearment are mom ( mama , mommy ), mum ( mummy ), mumsy , mamacita ( ma , mam ) and mammy . A female role model that children can look up to is sometimes referred to as a mother-figure . Biological motherhood for humans , as in other mammals , occurs when a pregnant female gestates
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#17327660827761524-838: A common question adoptive parents have is: "Will we love the child even though he/she is not our biological child?" A specific concern for many parents is accommodating an adoptee in the classroom. Familiar lessons like "draw your family tree " or "trace your eye color back through your parents and grandparents to see where your genes come from" could be hurtful to children who were adopted and do not know this biological information. Numerous suggestions have been made to substitute new lessons, e.g., focusing on "family orchards". Adopting older children presents other parenting issues. Some children from foster care have histories of maltreatment, such as physical and psychological neglect, physical abuse, and sexual abuse, and are at risk of developing psychiatric problems. Such children are at risk of developing
1651-415: A family member agrees to take over. Adoption is not always a voluntary process. In some countries, for example in the U.K., one of the main origins of children being placed for adoption is that they have been removed from the birth home, often by a government body such as the local authority. There are a number of reasons why children are removed including abuse and neglect, which can have a lasting impact on
1778-403: A family through adoption, and that the overall rate of never-married American women who adopt is about 1.4%. Other reasons people adopt are numerous although not well documented. These may include wanting to cement a new family following divorce or death of one parent, compassion motivated by religious or philosophical conviction, to avoid contributing to overpopulation out of the belief that it
1905-418: A family. The most recent data from the U.S. indicates that about half of adoptions are currently between related individuals. A common example of this is a "step-parent adoption", where the new partner of a parent legally adopts a child from the parent's previous relationship. Intra-family adoption can also occur through surrender, as a result of parental death, or when the child cannot otherwise be cared for and
2032-513: A female sex vary between different species, having different female reproductive systems , with some species showing characteristics secondary to the reproductive system , as with mammary glands in mammals. In humans, the word female can also be used to refer to gender in the social sense of gender role or gender identity . The word female comes from the Latin femella , the diminutive form of femina , meaning " woman ", by way of
2159-416: A fertilized ovum (the "egg"). A female can become pregnant through sexual intercourse after she has begun to ovulate . In well-nourished girls, menarche (the first menstrual period ) usually takes place around the age of 12 or 13. Typically, a fetus develops from the viable zygote , resulting in an embryo . Gestation occurs in the woman's uterus until the fetus (assuming it is carried to term )
2286-545: A few species. Anisogamy appears to have evolved multiple times from isogamy; for example female Volvocales (a type of green algae) evolved from the plus mating type . Although sexual evolution emerged at least 1.2 billion years ago, the lack of anisogamous fossil records make it hard to pinpoint when females evolved. Female sex organs (genitalia, in animals) have an extreme range of variation among species and even within species. The evolution of female genitalia remains poorly understood compared to male genitalia, reflecting
2413-605: A foundation is psychologically unsound" (Lawrence). Secrecy erects barriers to forming a healthy identity. The research says that the dysfunction, untruths and evasiveness that can be present in adoptive families not only makes identity formation impossible, but also directly works against it. What effect on identity formation is present if the adoptee knows they are adopted but has no information about their biological parents? Silverstein and Kaplan's research states that adoptees lacking medical, genetic, religious, and historical information are plagued by questions such as "Who am I?" "Why
2540-410: A fully developed identity. Family plays a vital role in identity formation. This is not only true in childhood but also in adolescence. Identity (gender/sexual/ethnic/religious/family) is still forming during adolescence and family holds a vital key to this. The research seems to be unanimous; a stable, secure, loving, honest and supportive family in which all members feel safe to explore their identity
2667-487: A history of domestic abuse are slightly more likely to commit filicide. Mothers are more likely to commit filicide than fathers when the child is 8 years old or younger. Matricide is most frequently committed by adult sons. In the United States in 2012, there were 130 matricides (0.4 per million people) and 383 filicides (1.2 per million), or 1.4 incidents per day. Throughout history, mothers have been depicted in
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#17327660827762794-407: A mother fills many similar biological functions as a human mother. Many other mammal mothers also have numerous commonalities with humans. The behavior and role of mothers in non-human species is most similar in species most closely related to humans. This means great apes are most similar, then the broader superfamily of all apes , then all primates . Female An organism 's sex
2921-530: A now-outdated belief that female genitalia are less varied than male genitalia, and thus less useful to study. The difficulty of reaching female genitalia has also complicated their study. New 3D technology has made female genital study simpler. Genitalia evolve very quickly. There are three main hypotheses as to what impacts female genital evolution: lock-and-key (genitals must fit together), cryptic female choice (females affect whether males can fertilize them), and sexual conflict (a sort of sexual arms race). There
3048-555: A parent and child is important, and the separation of the two has led to concerns about adoption. The traditional view of adoptive parenting received empirical support from a Princeton University study of 6,000 adoptive, step, and foster families in the United States and South Africa from 1968 to 1985; the study indicated that food expenditures in households with mothers of non-biological children (when controlled for income, household size, hours worked, age, etc.) were significantly less for adoptees, step-children, and foster children, causing
3175-599: A partner by utilizing their sperm to fertilize an egg and form an embryo. For transgender women, there is currently no accessible way to carry a child. However, research is being done on uterus transplants , which could potentially allow transgender women to carry and give birth to children through Caesarean section . Other types of motherhood include adoption or foster parenting. However, adoption agencies often refuse to work with transgender parents or are reluctant to do so. The social roles associated with motherhood are variable across time, culture, and social class. Historically,
3302-428: A plant in order to get a chance to fertilize a female. Yet despite the costs of being male, there must be some advantage to the process. The advantages are explained by the evolution of anisogamy , which led to the evolution of male and female function. Before the evolution of anisogamy, mating types in a species were isogamous : the same size and both could move, catalogued only as "+" or "-" types. In anisogamy,
3429-546: A result, many of Europe's abandoned and orphaned children became alumni of the Church, which in turn took the role of adopter. Oblation marks the beginning of a shift toward institutionalization , eventually bringing about the establishment of the foundling hospital and orphanage . As the idea of institutional care gained acceptance, formal rules appeared about how to place children into families: boys could become apprenticed to an artisan and girls might be married off under
3556-493: A series of laws that promoted adoption arrangements rather than indenture. The hallmark of the period is Minnesota 's adoption law of 1917, which mandated investigation of all placements and limited record access to those involved in the adoption. During the same period, the Progressive movement swept the United States with a critical goal of ending the prevailing orphanage system. The culmination of such efforts came with
3683-540: A significant percentage of the Empire's slave supply. Roman legal records indicate that foundlings were occasionally taken in by families and raised as a son or daughter. Although not normally adopted under Roman Law, the children, called alumni , were reared in an arrangement similar to guardianship, being considered the property of the father who abandoned them. Other ancient civilizations, notably India and China , used some form of adoption as well. Evidence suggests
3810-530: A small cross underneath, is commonly used to represent females. Joseph Justus Scaliger once speculated that the symbol was associated with Venus, goddess of beauty , because it resembles a bronze mirror with a handle, but modern scholars consider that fanciful, and the most established view is that the female and male symbols derive from contractions in Greek script of the Greek names of the planets Thouros (Mars) and Phosphoros (Venus). Adoptive Adoption
3937-442: A strong social stigma . Historically, this stigma not only applied to the mother, but also to her child. This continues to be the case in many parts of the developing world today, but in many Western countries the situation has changed radically, with single motherhood being much more socially acceptable now. For more details on these subjects, see Legitimacy (family law) and single parent . The total fertility rate (TFR), that is,
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4064-903: A two-parent household at age 10, than those who kept and raised their babies. There is limited research on the consequences of adoption for the original parents, and the findings have been mixed. One study found that those who released their babies for adoption were less comfortable with their decision than those who kept their babies. However, levels of comfort over both groups were high, and those who released their child were similar to those who kept their child in ratings of life satisfaction, relationship satisfaction, and positive future outlook for schooling, employment, finances, and marriage. Subsequent research found that adolescent mothers who chose to release their babies for adoption were more likely to experience feelings of sorrow and regret over their decision than those who kept their babies. However, these feelings decreased significantly from one year after birth to
4191-565: A variety of art works, including paintings, sculptures and written texts, that have helped define the cultural meaning of 'mother', as well as ideals and taboos of motherhood. Fourth century grave reliefs on the island of Rhodes depicted mothers with children. Paintings of mothers with their children have a long tradition in France . In the 18th century, these works embodied the Enlightenment's preoccupation with strong family bonds and
4318-406: Is Mary Kelly's Post-Partum Document . Bypassing typical themes of tenderness or nostalgia, this work documents in extensive detail the challenges, complexities and day-to-day realities of the mother-child relationship. Other artists have addressed similar aspects of motherhood that fall outside dominant ideals, including maternal ambivalence, desire, and the pursuit of self-fulfillment. While
4445-691: Is female ( symbol : ♀ ) if it produces the ovum (egg cell), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the male gamete (sperm cell) during sexual reproduction . A female has larger gametes than a male . Females and males are results of the anisogamous reproduction system , wherein gametes are of different sizes (unlike isogamy where they are the same size). The exact mechanism of female gamete evolution remains unknown. In species that have males and females, sex-determination may be based on either sex chromosomes , or environmental conditions. Most female mammals , including female humans , have two X chromosomes . Characteristics of organisms with
4572-529: Is a lack of longitudinal data that may elucidate long-term social and psychological consequences for birth parents who choose to place their children for adoption. Previous research on adoption has led to assumptions that indicate that there is a heightened risk in terms of psychological development and social relationships for adoptees. Yet, such assumptions have been clarified as flawed due to methodological failures. But more recent studies have been supportive in indicating more accurate information and results about
4699-801: Is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting of another, usually a child, from that person's biological or legal parent or parents. Legal adoptions permanently transfer all rights and responsibilities, along with filiation , from the biological parents to the adoptive parents. Unlike guardianship or other systems designed for the care of the young, adoption is intended to effect a permanent change in status and as such requires societal recognition, either through legal or religious sanction. Historically, some societies have enacted specific laws governing adoption, while others used less formal means (notably contracts that specified inheritance rights and parental responsibilities without an accompanying transfer of filiation ). Modern systems of adoption, arising in
4826-406: Is also a hypothesis that female genital evolution is the result of pleiotropy , i.e. unrelated genes that are affected by environmental conditions like low food also affect genitals. This hypothesis is unlikely to apply to a significant number of species, but natural selection in general has some role in female genital evolution. The symbol ♀ ( Unicode : U+2640 Alt codes : Alt+12), a circle with
4953-517: Is also possible in a variety of species, including humans, to have other karyotypes . During reproduction , the male contributes either an X sperm or a Y sperm, while the female always contributes an X egg. A Y sperm and an X egg produce a male, while an X sperm and an X egg produce a female. The ZW sex-determination system , where females have ZW (as opposed to ZZ in males) sex chromosomes, is found in birds, reptiles and some insects and other organisms. The young of some species develop into one sex or
5080-408: Is and what one is not. Adoptees born into one family lose an identity and then borrow one from the adopting family. The formation of identity is a complicated process and there are many factors that affect its outcome. From a perspective of looking at issues in adoption circumstances, the people involved and affected by adoption (the biological parent, the adoptive parent and the adoptee) can be known as
5207-425: Is better suited to support very young children in their efforts to understand speech (in context of the reference English) than fathers. 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. This is, however, a position highly biased by Western world locality: outside
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5334-421: Is called trioecy . In Thor manningi (a species of shrimp), females coexist with males and protandrous hermaphrodites . A distinguishing characteristic of the class Mammalia is the presence of mammary glands . Mammary glands are modified sweat glands that produce milk, which is used to feed the young for some time after birth. Only mammals produce milk . Mammary glands are obvious in humans , because
5461-538: Is defined by WHO as "the death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, irrespective of the duration and site of the pregnancy, from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management but not from accidental or incidental causes". About 56% of maternal deaths occur in Sub-Saharan Africa and another 29% in South Asia . In 2006, the organization Save
5588-424: Is from Middle English moder, from Old English mōdor, from Proto-Germanic *mōdēr (cf. East Frisian muur, Dutch moeder, German Mutter), from Proto-Indo-European *méh₂tēr (cf. Irish máthair, Tocharian A mācar, B mācer, Lithuanian mótė). Other cognates include Latin māter, Greek μήτηρ, Common Slavic *mati (thence Russian мать (mat')), Persian مادر (madar), and Sanskrit मातृ (mātṛ). In zoology , particularly in mammals ,
5715-464: Is generally found in the categories of racial, ethnic and national identification. Because of this, the strength and functionality of family relationships play a huge role in its development and outcome of identity construction. Transracial and transnational adoptees tend to develop feelings of a lack of acceptance because of such racial, ethnic, and cultural differences. Therefore, exposing transracial and transnational adoptees to their "cultures of origin"
5842-473: Is important in order to better develop a sense of identity and appreciation for cultural diversity. Identity construction and reconstruction for transnational adoptees the instant they are adopted. For example, based upon specific laws and regulations of the United States, the Child Citizen Act of 2000 makes sure to grant immediate U.S. citizenship to adoptees. Identity is defined both by what one
5969-601: Is legal in 34 countries as of March 2022, and additionally in various sub-national territories. Adoption may also be in the form of step-child adoption (6 additional countries), wherein one partner in a same-sex couple adopts the child of the other. Most countries that have same-sex marriage allow joint adoption by those couples, the exceptions being Ecuador (no adoption by same-sex couples), Taiwan (step-child adoption only) and Mexico (in one third of states with same-sex marriage). A few countries with civil unions or lesser marriage rights nonetheless allow step- or joint adoption.In 2019,
6096-488: Is more responsible to care for otherwise parent-less children than to reproduce, to ensure that inheritable diseases (e.g., Tay–Sachs disease ) are not passed on, and health concerns relating to pregnancy and childbirth. Although there are a range of reasons, the most recent study of experiences of women who adopt suggests they are most likely to be 40–44 years of age, to be currently married, to have impaired fertility, and to be childless. Unrelated adoptions may occur through
6223-579: Is necessary for the formation of a sound identity. Transracial and International adoptions are some factors that play a significant role in the identity construction of adoptees. Many tensions arise from relationships built between the adoptee(s) and their family. These include being "different" from the parent(s), developing a positive racial identity, and dealing with racial/ethnic discrimination. It has been found that multicultural and transnational youth tend to identify with their parents origin of culture and ethnicity rather than their residing location, yet it
6350-399: Is sometimes hard to balance an identity between the two because school environments tend to lack diversity and acknowledgment regarding such topics. These tensions also tend to create questions for the adoptee, as well as the family, to contemplate. Some common questions include what will happen if the family is more naïve to the ways of socially constructed life? Will tensions arise if this is
6477-408: Is sufficiently developed to be born. In humans, gestation is often around 9 months in duration, after which the woman experiences labor and gives birth. This is not always the case, however, as some babies are born prematurely , late, or in the case of stillbirth , do not survive gestation. Usually, once the baby is born, the mother produces milk via the lactation process. The mother's breast milk
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#17327660827766604-462: Is the default sex, while in the poplar genus Populus the default is male. The sex of a particular organism may be determined by genetic or environmental factors, or may naturally change during the course of an organism's life. The sex of most mammals, including humans, is genetically determined by the XY sex-determination system where females have XX (as opposed to XY in males) sex chromosomes . It
6731-600: Is the source of antibodies for the infant's immune system , and commonly the sole source of nutrition for newborns before they are able to eat and digest other foods; older infants and toddlers may continue to be breastfed, in combination with other foods, which should be introduced from approximately six months of age. Childlessness is the state of not having children. Childlessness may have personal, social or political significance. Childlessness may be voluntary childlessness , which occurs by choice, or may be involuntary due to health problems or social circumstances. Motherhood
6858-494: Is today practiced globally. The table below provides a snapshot of Western adoption rates. Adoption in the United States still occurs at rates nearly three times those of its peers even though the number of children awaiting adoption has held steady in recent years, between 100,000 and 125,000 during the period 2009 to 2018. Contemporary adoption practices can be open or closed. Adoptions can occur between related or unrelated individuals. Historically, most adoptions occurred within
6985-453: Is usually voluntary, but may also be the result of forced pregnancy , such as pregnancy from rape . Unwanted motherhood occurs especially in cultures which practice forced marriage and child marriage . 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 partner of
7112-529: The Virgin Mary , an archetypal mother and a key historical basis for depictions of mothers in western art from the European Renaissance onwards. Mothers depicted in dominant art works are also primarily white, heterosexual, middle class and young or attractive. These ideals of motherhood have been challenged by artists with lived experience as mothers. An example in western contemporary art
7239-482: The "institution of motherhood" rather than diverse lived experiences. At the same time, art concerning motherhood has been historically marginalized within the feminist art movement , though this is changing with an increasing number of feminist publications addressing this topic. The institution of motherhood in western art is often depicted through "the myth of the all-loving, all-forgiving and all-sacrificing mother" and related ideals. Examples include works featuring
7366-628: The "parent-infant system", rather than a bond between biologically related individuals, is an evolved fit between innate behavior patterns of all human infants and equally evolved responses of human adults to those infant behaviors. Thus nature "ensures some initial flexibility with respect to the particular adults who take on the parental role." Beyond the foundational issues, the unique questions posed for adoptive parents are varied. They include how to respond to stereotypes, answering questions about heritage, and how best to maintain connections with biological kin when in an open adoption. One author suggests
7493-470: The "triad members and state". Adoption may threaten triad members' sense of identity. Triad members often express feelings related to confused identity and identity crises because of differences between the triad relationships. Adoption, for some, precludes a complete or integrated sense of self. Triad members may experience themselves as incomplete, deficient, or unfinished. They state that they lack feelings of well-being, integration, or solidity associated with
7620-446: The 1960s and 1970s include a decline in the fertility rate, associated with the introduction of the pill , the completion of legalization of artificial birth control methods, the introduction of federal funding to make family planning services available to the young and low-income, and the legalization of abortion. In addition, the years of the late 1960s and early 1970s saw a dramatic change in society's view of illegitimacy and in
7747-512: The 20th century, tend to be governed by comprehensive statutes and regulations. While the modern form of adoption emerged in the United States, forms of the practice appeared throughout history. The Code of Hammurabi , for example, details the rights of adopters and the responsibilities of adopted individuals at length. The practice of adoption in ancient Rome is well-documented in the Codex Justinianus . Markedly different from
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#17327660827767874-434: The 21st century, the noun female is primarily used to describe non-human animals, to refer to biologically female humans in an impersonal technical context (e.g., "Females were more likely than males to develop an autoimmune disease"), or to impartially include a range of people without reference to age (e.g., girls ) or social status (e.g., lady ). As an adjective, female is still used in some contexts, particularly when
8001-649: The ACS enhanced its approach to measuring same-sex couple households, explicitly distinguishing between same-sex and opposite-sex spouses or partners. Same-sex parents, according to the ACS, were predominantly female. Notably, 22.5% of female same-sex couple households had children under 18, in contrast to 6.6% of male same-sex couple households. In homes with children, neither male nor female same-sex couples were more likely to have biological children, but male same-sex couples were more likely to adopt children and less likely to have stepchildren. The biological relationship between
8128-460: 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. 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
8255-537: The First White House Conference on the Care of Dependent Children called by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1909, where it was declared that the nuclear family represented "the highest and finest product of civilization" and was best able to serve as primary caretaker for the abandoned and orphaned. As late as 1923, only two percent of children without parental care were in adoptive homes, with
8382-535: The Old French femelle . It is not etymologically related to the word male , but in the late 14th century the English spelling was altered to parallel that of male . It has been used as both noun and adjective since the 14th century. Originally, from its first appearance in the 1300s, female exclusively referred to humans and always indicated that the speaker spoke of a woman or a girl. A century later,
8509-504: The Orphan Trains from returning to or being reclaimed by their parents. Brace feared the impact of the parents' poverty, in general, and Catholic religion, in particular, on the youth. This tradition of secrecy was carried on by the later Progressive reformers when drafting of American laws. The number of adoptions in the United States peaked in 1970. It is uncertain what caused the subsequent decline. Likely contributing factors in
8636-652: The U.K., some adoptions fail because the adoptive parents do not get sufficient support to deal with difficult, traumatized children. This is a false economy as local authority care for these children is extremely expensive. Concerning developmental milestones, studies from the Colorado Adoption Project examined genetic influences on adoptee maturation, concluding that cognitive abilities of adoptees reflect those of their adoptive parents in early childhood but show little similarity by adolescence, resembling instead those of their biological parents and to
8763-483: The United States is common and relatively easy from a legal point of view (compared to other Western countries). In 2001, with over 127,000 adoptions, the US accounted for nearly half of the total number of adoptions worldwide. A surrogate mother is a woman who bears a child that came from another woman's fertilized ovum on behalf of a couple unable to give birth to children. Thus the surrogate mother carries and gives birth to
8890-468: 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 . Traditionally, and still in most parts of the world today, a mother was expected to be a married woman, with birth outside of marriage carrying
9017-432: The adopted person by at least 15 years, and to have fostered the adoptee for at least six years. Some adoptions continued to occur, however, but became informal, based on ad hoc contracts. For example, in the year 737, in a charter from the town of Lucca , three adoptees were made heirs to an estate. Like other contemporary arrangements, the agreement stressed the responsibility of the adopted rather than adopter, focusing on
9144-402: The adoptee. Social workers in many cases will be notified of a safeguarding concern in relation to a child and will make enquiries into the child's well-being. Social workers will often seek means of keeping a child together with the birth family, for example, by providing additional support to the family before considering removal of a child. A court of law will often then make decisions regarding
9271-399: The adoptive children over time. Another study shows that warm adoptive parenting at 27 months predicted lower levels of child externalizing problems at ages 6 and 7. Several factors affect the decision to release or raise the child. White adolescents tend to give up their babies to non-relatives, whereas black adolescents are more likely to receive support from their own community in raising
9398-478: The asylum officials said, "that often, when children of a younger age are taken to be adopted, the adoption is only another name for service." The next stage of adoption's evolution fell to the emerging nation of the United States. Rapid immigration and the American Civil War resulted in unprecedented overcrowding of orphanages and foundling homes in the mid-nineteenth century. Charles Loring Brace ,
9525-569: The balance in foster arrangements and orphanages. Less than forty years later, nearly one-third were in adoptive homes. Nevertheless, the popularity of eugenic ideas in America put up obstacles to the growth of adoption. There were grave concerns about the genetic quality of illegitimate and indigent children, perhaps best exemplified by the influential writings of Henry H. Goddard , who protested against adopting children of unknown origin, saying, Now it happens that some people are interested in
9652-465: The beginning years of life but gains a more stable sense in later periods of childhood and adolescence. Typically associated with a time of experimentation, there are endless factors that go into the construction of one's identity. As well as being many factors, there are many types of identities one can associate with. Some categories of identity include gender, sexuality, class, racial and religious, etc. For transracial and international adoptees, tension
9779-559: The black female body and of maternity and slavery in the US, the latter of which is often characterized by the "extreme passivity and devalued love" typically associated with motherhood. 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: In many other languages, similar pronunciations apply: The modern English word
9906-457: The bottom ten ranked countries is 28 times more likely to see her child die before reaching their first birthday. The most recent data suggests that Italy , Sweden and Luxembourg are the safest countries in terms of maternal death and Afghanistan , Central African Republic and Malawi are the most dangerous. Childbirth can be a dangerous process in the absence of effective measures to reduce death. When none of these measure are taken,
10033-504: The case? What if the very people that are supposed to be modeling a sound identity are in fact riddled with insecurities? Ginni Snodgrass answers these questions in the following way. The secrecy in an adoptive family and the denial that the adoptive family is different builds dysfunction into it. "... social workers and insecure adoptive parents have structured a family relationship that is based on dishonesty, evasions and exploitation. To believe that good relationships will develop on such
10160-583: The child and also in the form of informal adoption by relatives. Studies by Leynes and by Festinger and Young, Berkman, and Rehr found that, for pregnant adolescents, the decision to release the child for adoption depended on the attitude toward adoption held by the adolescent's mother. Another study found that pregnant adolescents whose mothers had a higher level of education were more likely to release their babies for adoption. Research suggests that women who choose to release their babies for adoption are more likely to be younger, enrolled in school, and have lived in
10287-479: The child welfare system (e.g., excluding babies adopted from other countries or step-parents adopting their stepchildren) disrupt before they are legally finalized and from 1 to 10 percent are dissolved after legal finalization. The wide range of values reflects the paucity of information on the subject and demographic factors such as age; it is known that teenagers are more prone to having their adoptions disrupted than young children. Joint adoption by same-sex couples
10414-418: The child's future, for example, whether they can return to the birth family, enter into foster care or be adopted. Infertility is the main reason parents seek to adopt children they are not related to. One study shows this accounted for 80% of unrelated infant adoptions and half of adoptions through foster care. Estimates suggest that 11–24% of Americans who cannot conceive or carry to term attempt to build
10541-516: The children of family members and close friends was common among the cultures of Polynesia including Hawaii where the custom was referred to as hānai . The nobility of the Germanic , Celtic , and Slavic cultures that dominated Europe after the decline of the Roman Empire denounced the practice of adoption. In medieval society, bloodlines were paramount; a ruling dynasty lacking
10668-478: The corresponding plugs male . Females produce ova , the larger gametes in a heterogamous reproduction system , while the smaller and usually motile gametes, the spermatozoa , are produced by males. Generally, a female cannot reproduce sexually without access to the gametes of a male, and vice versa, but in some species females can reproduce by themselves asexually , for example via parthenogenesis . Patterns of sexual reproduction include: Other than
10795-417: The defining difference in the type of gamete produced, differences between males and females in one lineage cannot always be predicted by differences in another. The concept is not limited to animals; egg cells are produced by chytrids , diatoms , water moulds and land plants , among others. In land plants, female and male designate not only the egg- and sperm-producing organisms and structures, but also
10922-496: The direction of social welfare activists, orphan asylums began to promote adoptions based on sentiment rather than work; children were placed out under agreements to provide care for them as family members instead of under contracts for apprenticeship. The growth of this model is believed to have contributed to the enactment of the first modern adoption law in 1851 by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts , unique in that it codified
11049-425: The disruption process is usually initiated by adoptive parents via a court petition and is analogous to divorce proceedings . It is a legal avenue unique to adoptive parents as disruption/dissolution does not apply to biological kin, although biological family members are sometimes disowned or abandoned . Ad hoc studies performed in the U.S., however, suggest that between 10 and 25 percent of adoptions through
11176-859: The end of the second year. More recent research found that in a sample of mothers who had released their children for adoption four to 12 years prior, every participant had frequent thoughts of their lost child. For most, thoughts were both negative and positive in that they produced both feelings of sadness and joy. Those who experienced the greatest portion of positive thoughts were those who had open, rather than closed or time-limited mediated, adoptions. In another study that compared mothers who released their children to those who raised them, mothers who released their children were more likely to delay their next pregnancy, to delay marriage, and to complete job training. However, both groups reached lower levels of education than their peers who were never pregnant. Another study found similar consequences for choosing to release
11303-613: The existing Virgin Mary archetype while subverting its norms around sexuality by centering her identity as a lesbian. Rather than attempting to make her experience of motherhood fit into existing norms, Opie's photographs are "non-traditional and non-apologetic representations". In her 2020 photography collection, Solana Cain explored the meaning of joy for Black mothers to challenge the lack of images in mainstream media that represent Black motherhood. Renee Cox's Yo Mama series of nude self-portraits challenge historical representations of both
11430-411: The fact that, under the contract, the adoptive father was meant to be cared for in his old age; an idea that is similar to the conceptions of adoption under Roman law. Europe's cultural makeover marked a period of significant innovation for adoption. Without support from the nobility, the practice gradually shifted toward abandoned children. Abandonment levels rose with the fall of the empire and many of
11557-643: The family in 1959. West Germany enacted its first laws in 1977. Additionally, the Asian powers opened their orphanage systems to adoption, influenced as they were by Western ideas following colonial rule and military occupation. In France, local public institutions accredit candidates for adoption, who can then contact orphanages abroad or ask for the support of NGOs. The system does not involve fees, but gives considerable power to social workers whose decisions may restrict adoption to "standard" families (middle-age, medium to high income, heterosexual, Caucasian). Adoption
11684-416: The female human body stores large amounts of fatty tissue near the nipples, resulting in prominent breasts . Mammary glands are present in all mammals, although they are normally redundant in males of the species. Most mammalian females have two copies of the X chromosome , while males have only one X and one smaller Y chromosome ; some mammals, such as the platypus , have different combinations. One of
11811-654: The female's X chromosomes is randomly inactivated in each cell of placental mammals while the paternally derived X is inactivated in marsupials. In birds and some reptiles, by contrast, it is the female which is heterozygous and carries a Z and a W chromosome while the male carries two Z chromosomes. In mammals, females can have XXX or X . Mammalian females bear live young , with the exception of monotreme females, which lay eggs. Some non-mammalian species, such as guppies , have analogous reproductive structures; and some other non-mammals, such as some sharks , also bear live young. In sex determination for mammals, female
11938-425: The following mechanisms: Although adoption is often described as forming a "forever" family, the relationship can be ended at any time. The legal termination of an adoption is called disruption . In U.S. terminology, adoptions are disrupted if they are ended before being finalized, and they are dissolved if the relationship is ended afterwards. It may also be called a failed adoption . After legal finalization,
12065-587: The foundlings were left on the doorstep of the Church . Initially, the clergy reacted by drafting rules to govern the exposing, selling, and rearing of abandoned children. The Church's innovation, however, was the practice of oblation , whereby children were dedicated to lay life within monastic institutions and reared within a monastery . This created the first system in European history in which abandoned children did not have legal, social, or moral disadvantages. As
12192-451: The goal of this practice was to ensure the continuity of cultural and religious practices; in contrast to the Western idea of extending family lines. In ancient India, adoption was conducted in a limited and highly ritualistic form, so that an adopter might have the necessary funerary rites performed by a son. China had a similar idea of adoption with males adopted solely to perform the duties of ancestor worship . The practice of adopting
12319-824: The ideal of maternal self-sacrifice and the 'good mother' forms an important part of many works of art relating to the Holocaust , other women's Holocaust and post-Holocaust art has engaged more deeply with mothers' trauma, taboos, and the experiences of second and third-generation Holocaust survivors. For example, works by first-generation survivors of the Holocaust such as Ella Liebermann-Shiber and Shoshana Neuman have depicted mothers abandoning and suffocating their children in an effort to stay alive themselves. Increasingly diverse representations of motherhood can be found in contemporary works of art. Catherine Opie's self-portrait photographs, including of herself nursing, reference
12446-552: The ideal of the "best interests of the child". Despite its intent, though, in practice, the system operated much the same as earlier incarnations. The experience of the Boston Female Asylum (BFA) is a good example, which had up to 30% of its charges adopted out by 1888. Officials of the BFA noted that, although the asylum promoted otherwise, adoptive parents did not distinguish between indenture and adoption: "We believe,"
12573-413: The institution's authority. Institutions informally adopted out children as well, a mechanism treated as a way to obtain cheap labor , demonstrated by the fact that when the adopted died their bodies were returned by the family to the institution for burial. This system of apprenticeship and informal adoption extended into the 19th century, today seen as a transitional phase for adoption history. Under
12700-478: The legal rights of those born outside of wedlock. In response, family preservation efforts grew so that few children born out of wedlock today are adopted. Ironically, adoption is far more visible and discussed in society today, yet it is less common. The American model of adoption eventually proliferated globally. England and Wales established their first formal adoption law in 1926. The Netherlands passed its law in 1956. Sweden made adoptees full members of
12827-431: The legal rights and responsibilities of a parent in relation to the child. A father is the male counterpart of a mother. Women who are pregnant may be referred to as expectant mothers or mothers-to-be. The process of becoming a mother has been referred to as "matrescence". The adjective "maternal" refers to a mother and comparatively to "paternal" for a father . The verb "to mother" means to procreate or to sire
12954-572: The level of parental investment indicates strength in adoptive families, suggesting that parents who adopt invest more time in their children than other parents, and concludes "...adoptive parents enrich their children's lives to compensate for the lack of biological ties and the extra challenges of adoption." Another recent study found that adoptive families invested more heavily in their adopted children, for example, by providing further education and financial support. Noting that adoptees seemed to be more likely to experience problems such as drug addiction,
13081-733: The maternal death rate has been estimated as being within the order of magnitude of 1,500 deaths per 100,000 births. Modern medicine has greatly alleviated the risk of childbirth. In modern Western countries the current maternal mortality rate is around 10 deaths per 100,000 births. Nearly all world religions define tasks or roles for mothers through either religious law or through the 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 religious texts that comment on mothers include: Christianity , Judaism , and Islam . Some examples of honoring motherhood include
13208-496: The mating cells are called gametes. The female gamete is larger than the male gamete, and usually immotile. Anisogamy remains poorly understood, as there is no fossil record of its emergence. Numerous theories exist as to why anisogamy emerged. Many share a common thread, in that larger female gametes are more likely to survive, and that smaller male gametes are more likely to find other gametes because they can travel faster. Current models often fail to account for why isogamy remains in
13335-405: The meaning was expanded to include non-human female organisms. For several centuries, using the word female as a noun was considered more respectful than calling her a woman or a lady and was preferred for that reason; however, by 1895, the linguistic fashion had changed, and female was often considered disparaging, usually on the grounds that it grouped humans with other animals. In
13462-568: The modern period, ancient adoption practices put emphasis on the political and economic interests of the adopter, providing a legal tool that strengthened political ties between wealthy families and created male heirs to manage estates. The use of adoption by the aristocracy is well-documented: many of Rome's emperors were adopted sons. Adrogation was a kind of Roman adoption in which the person adopted consented to be adopted by another. Infant adoption during Antiquity appears rare. Abandoned children were often picked up for slavery and composed
13589-533: The new parents in the eyes of the law. Two innovations were added: 1) adoption was meant to ensure the "best interests of the child", the seeds of this idea can be traced to the first American adoption law in Massachusetts , and 2) adoption became infused with secrecy, eventually resulting in the sealing of adoption and original birth records by 1945. The origin of the move toward secrecy began with Charles Loring Brace, who introduced it to prevent children from
13716-629: The number of children born per woman, differs greatly from country to country. The TFR in 2013 was estimated to be highest in Niger (7.03 children born per woman) and lowest in Singapore (0.79 children/woman). In the United States , the TFR was estimated for 2013 at 2.06 births per woman. In 2011, the average age at first birth was 25.6 and 40.7% of births were to unmarried women. A maternal death
13843-462: The other depending on local environmental conditions, e.g. the sex of crocodilians is influenced by the temperature of their eggs. Other species (such as the goby ) can transform, as adults, from one sex to the other in response to local reproductive conditions (such as a brief shortage of males). The question of how females evolved is mainly a question of why males evolved. The first organisms reproduced asexually, usually via binary fission , wherein
13970-438: The past few decades due to technological developments. Modern lesbian parenting originated with women who were in heterosexual relationships who later identified as lesbian or bisexual, as changing attitudes provided more acceptance for non-heterosexual relationships. Other ways for such women to become mothers is through adopting, foster parenting or in vitro fertilization. Transgender women may have biological children with
14097-701: 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. The 20th century also saw more and more women entering paid work. Mothers' rights within the workforce include maternity leave and parental leave . The social role and experience of motherhood varies greatly depending upon location. Mothers are more likely than fathers to encourage assimilative and communion-enhancing patterns in their children. Mothers are more likely than fathers to acknowledge their children's contributions in conversation. The way mothers speak to their children ( "motherese" )
14224-426: The probabilities are strong that it would show poor and diseased stock, and that if a marriage should take place between that individual and any member of the family the offspring would be degenerates. The period 1945 to 1974, the baby scoop era , saw rapid growth and acceptance of adoption as a means to build a family. Illegitimate births rose three-fold after World War II, as sexual mores changed. Simultaneously,
14351-547: The relation between mothers and children. At the end of the nineteenth century, Mary Cassatt was a painter well known for her portraits of mothers. American poet, essayist and feminist Adrienne Rich has noted "the disjuncture between motherhood as patriarchal institution and motherhood as complexly and variously lived experience". The vast majority of works depicting motherhood in western art history have been created by artists who are men, with very few having been created by women or mothers themselves, and these often focus on
14478-466: The researchers to speculate that people are less interested in sustaining the genetic lines of others. This theory is supported in another more qualitative study wherein adoptive relationships marked by sameness in likes, personality, and appearance, were associated with both adult adoptees and adoptive parents reporting being happier with the adoption. Other studies provide evidence that adoptive relationships can form along other lines. A study evaluating
14605-426: The role of women was confined to some extent to being a mother and wife, with women being expected to dedicate most of their energy to these roles, and to spend most of their time taking care of the home. In many cultures, women received significant help in performing these tasks from older female relatives, such as mothers in law or their own mothers. Regarding women in the workforce , mothers are said to often follow
14732-549: The same extent as peers in non-adoptive families. Similar mechanisms appear to be at work in the physical development of adoptees. Danish and American researchers conducting studies on the genetic contribution to body mass index found correlations between an adoptee's weight class and his biological parents' BMI while finding no relationship with the adoptive family environment. Moreover, about one-half of inter-individual differences were due to individual non-shared influences. These differences in development appear to play out in
14859-406: The scientific community began to stress the dominance of nurture over genetics, chipping away at eugenic stigmas. In this environment, adoption became the obvious solution for both unwed people and infertile couples. Taken together, these trends resulted in a new American model for adoption. Following its Roman predecessor, Americans severed the rights of the original parents while making adopters
14986-500: The sex of the person is relevant, such as female athletes or to distinguish a male nurse from a female one. Biological sex is conceptually distinct from gender , although they are often used interchangeably. The adjective female can describe a person's sex or gender identity . The word can also refer to the shape of connectors and fasteners , such as screws, electrical pins, and technical equipment. Under this convention, sockets and receptacles are called female, and
15113-417: The similarities, differences and overall lifestyles of adoptees. Adoptees are four times more likely to attempt suicide than other people. Evidence about the development of adoptees can be supported in newer studies. It can be said that adoptees, in some respect, tend to develop differently from the general population. This can be seen in many aspects of life, but usually can be found as a greater risk around
15240-449: The structures of the sporophytes that give rise to male and female plants . Species that are divided into females and males are classified as gonochoric in animals, as dioecious in seed plants and as dioicous in cryptogams . In some species, female and hermaphrodite individuals may coexist, a sexual system termed gynodioecy . In a few species, female individuals coexist with males and hermaphrodites ; this sexual system
15367-484: The study speculated that adoptive parents might invest more in adoptees not because they favor them, but because they are more likely than genetic children to need the help. Psychologists' findings regarding the importance of early mother-infant bonding created some concern about whether parents who adopt older infants or toddlers after birth have missed some crucial period for the child's development. However, research on The Mental and Social Life of Babies suggested that
15494-484: The time of adolescence. For example, it has been found that many adoptees experience difficulty in establishing a sense of identity. There are many ways in which the concept of identity can be defined. It is true in all cases that identity construction is an ongoing process of development, change and maintenance of identifying with the self. Research has shown that adolescence is a time of identity progression rather than regression. One's identity tends to lack stability in
15621-495: The urban centers of the East to the nation's rural regions. The children were generally indentured , rather than adopted, to families who took them in. As in times past, some children were raised as members of the family while others were used as farm laborers and household servants. The sheer size of the displacement—the largest migration of children in history—and the degree of exploitation that occurred, gave rise to new agencies and
15748-811: The veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary as Mother of God and the multiple positive references to active womanhood as a mother in the Book of Proverbs . Hindu 's Mother Goddess and Demeter of ancient Greek pre-Christian belief are also mothers. History records many conflicts between mothers and their children. Some even resulted in murder , such as the conflict between Cleopatra III of Egypt and her son Ptolemy X . In modern cultures, matricide (the killing of one's mother) and filicide (the killing of one's son or daughter) have been studied but remain poorly understood. Psychosis and schizophrenia are common causes of both, and young, indigent mothers with
15875-667: The way young adoptees deal with major life events. In the case of parental divorce, adoptees have been found to respond differently from children who have not been adopted. While the general population experienced more behavioral problems, substance use, lower school achievement, and impaired social competence after parental divorce, the adoptee population appeared to be unaffected in terms of their outside relationships, specifically in their school or social abilities. Recent research has shown that adoptive parenting may have impacts on adoptive children, it has been shown that warm adoptive parenting reduces internalizing and externalizing problems of
16002-427: The welfare and high development of the human race; but leaving aside those exceptional people, all fathers and mothers are interested in the welfare of their own families. The dearest thing to the parental heart is to have the children marry well and rear a noble family. How short-sighted it is then for such a family to take into its midst a child whose pedigree is absolutely unknown; or, where, if it were partially known,
16129-683: Was I born?" "What is my purpose?" This lack of identity may lead adoptees, particularly in adolescent years, to seek out ways to belong in a more extreme fashion than many of their non-adopted peers. Adolescent adoptees are overrepresented among those who join sub-cultures, run away, become pregnant, or totally reject their families. Concerning developmental milestones, studies from the Colorado Adoption Project examined genetic influences on adoptee maturation, concluding that cognitive abilities of adoptees reflect those of their adoptive parents in early childhood but show little similarity by adolescence, resembling instead those of their biological parents and to
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