IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/indgen/v32y2025i1p71-93.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Mothers in Urban India: Exploring Identity

Author

Listed:
  • Renuka Bhandarkar
  • Mrinmoyi Kulkarni

Abstract

Motherhood is a life-changing event. The experience of motherhood among middle-class married Indian women is explored in this qualitative study. The aim of this study was to understand ‘how’ motherhood is incorporated into identity within the context of competing discourses of patriarchy vis-à -vis modernism and feminism. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 30 urban women, and the data were analysed using thematic analysis. The following themes were identified: roles as contributing to identity, role conflict, social support and growth. From the Eriksonian perspective, motherhood is viewed as a period of psycho-social crises in which the original identity goes through a process of transformation to emerge anew. Implications of an integrated identity for the well-being of mothers are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Renuka Bhandarkar & Mrinmoyi Kulkarni, 2025. "Mothers in Urban India: Exploring Identity," Indian Journal of Gender Studies, Centre for Women's Development Studies, vol. 32(1), pages 71-93, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:indgen:v:32:y:2025:i:1:p:71-93
    DOI: 10.1177/09715215241301481
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/09715215241301481
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/09715215241301481?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:indgen:v:32:y:2025:i:1:p:71-93. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.