Mother

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"Mom" and "Mommy" redirect here. For other uses, see Mom (disambiguation) and Mommy (disambiguation).

"Mum" redirects here. For other uses, see Mother (disambiguation). For other uses, see Mum (disambiguation).

"Moms" redirects here. For scandinavian tax called MOMS, see Value Added Tax.

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Look up mother in
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Faces of mother and child; detail of sculpture at Soldier Field, Chicago, Illinois, USA.

Monumento a la Madre in Mexico City. The inscription translates "To she who loves us before she meets us."

A mother is a biological and/or social female parent of an offspring. In the case of a mammal such as a human, the biological mother gestates a fertilized ovum, which is called first an embryo, and then a fetus. This gestation occurs in the mother\'s uterus from conception until the fetus is sufficiently developed to be born. The mother then goes into labor and gives birth. Once the child is born, the mother produces milk in a process called lactation to feed the child; often the mother\'s breast milk is the child\'s sole nourishment for the first year or more of the child\'s life.

The title mother is often given to a woman other than biological parent, if it is she who fulfills the social role. This is most commonly either an adoptive mother or a stepmother (the biologically unrelated wife of a child\'s father). Currently, with advances in reproductive technologies, the function of biological motherhood can be split between the genetic mother (who provides the ovum) and the gestational mother (who carries the pregnancy), and in theory neither might be the social mother (the one who brings up the child).

Mothers have historically fulfilled the primary role in the raising of children, but since the late 20th century, the role of the father in child care has been given greater prominence in most Western countries."In most Western countries the family model of a sole male breadwinner is in full retreat." Accessed 19 September 2007.Why Are Fathers Important? Interview with Dr. Ross Parke, professor of psychology at the University of California at Riverside, author of Fatherhood (1966) and co-author of Throwaway Dads (1999). Accessed 19 September 2007.

The experience of motherhood varies greatly depending upon location. The organization Save the Children has ranked the countries of the world, and found that Scandinavian countries are the best places to be a mother, whereas countries in sub-Saharan Africa are the worst.Save the Children, State of the World\'s Mothers Report 2006. A mother in the bottom 10 countries is over 750 times more likely to die in pregnancy or childbirth, compared to a mother in the top 10 countries, and a mother in the bottom 10 countries is 28 times more likely to see her child die before reaching his or her first birthday.

Contents 1 Synonyms and translations 2 Legendary & mythological mothers 3 See also 4 Notes

Synonyms and translations

Familiar or colloquial terms for mother in English are:

• mum or mummy, is used in the UK, most of Canada (especially Eastern Canada), Australia, and New Zealand; and also in some parts of Western Pennsylvania.^{[citation needed]}
• mom or mommy, in most of North America (especially the U.S.). Mommy is considered baby talk. Most children in these regions switch to the term mom as they approach the teen years. This term is also used in the British West Midlands and in the Philippines; in the latter, mommy is used by many adults.
• mam or mammy, North Wales, the South Wales valleys, Ireland, North and the East Midlands of England;
• mama and ma, in parts of the Middle East, Latin America, other Spanish-speaking cultures and The Netherlands. "Mama" is often used in rural areas of the midwest and south eastern regions of the US. "Ma" is a common term in various parts of the US including the north east.
• In many other languages, similar pronunciations apply; mama in Polish and Slovak, māma in Mandarin Chinese, máma in Czech, maman in French, mamma in Italian, or mãe in Portuguese. Mama, borrowed from the English, is in common use in Japan. In Hebrew the word is eema (אמא), and in many south Asian cultures and the Middle East the mother is known as amma or oma or ammi or "ummi", or variations thereof. Many times these terms denote affection or a maternal role in a child\'s life.

Legendary & mythological mothers

• Bithiah
• Gaia (mythology)
• Hagar (mother of Ishmael)
• Isis
• Jocasta, mother of Oedipus, important in Freudian psychology
• Juno (mythology)
• Mary (mother of Jesus)
• Euripides\' Medea
• Queen Maya
• Venus (mythology)
• Demeter

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Mothers

• Attachment parenting
• Breastfeeding
• Jungian archetypes
• Lactation
• Matriarch
• Matricide
• Matrilocality
• Mother insult
• Mother\'s Day
• Mothers rights
• Nuclear family
• Oedipus complex
• Parenting
• Psychological bond
• Mother ship
• Mother goddess
• Mother Superior or Abbess

Notes

v • d • e Family
Mother • Father • Son • Daughter • Sibling • Grandparent • Cousin

v • d • e Articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
General Principles	Article 1: Freedom, Egalitarianism, Dignity, and Brotherhood · Article 2: Universality of rights
Civil and Political Rights. Treaty: International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights	Article 3: Right to life, liberty and security of person · Article 4: Freedom from slavery · Article 5: Freedom from torture and cruel, unusual punishment · Article 6: Right to personhood · Article 7: Equality before the law · Article 8: Right to effective remedy from the law · Article 9: Freedom from arbitrary arrest, detention, and exile · Article 10: Right to fair trial · Article 11.1:  Presumption of innocence · Article 11.2: Prohibition of retrospective law · Article 12: Right to Privacy · Article 13 Freedom of movement · Article 14: Right of asylum · Article 15: Right to a nationality · Article 16: Right to marriage and family life · Article 17: Right to property  · Article 18: Freedom of thought, conscience, and religion · Article 19: Freedom of opinion and expression · Article 20.1: Freedom of assembly · Article 20.2: Freedom of association · Article 21.1: Right to participation in government · Article 21.2: Right of equal access to public office · Article 21.3: Right to universal suffrage
Social, Cultural and Economic Rights. Treaty: International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights	Article 22: Right to social security · Article 23.1: Right to work · Article 23.2: Right to equal pay for equal work · Article 23.3: Right to just remuneration  · Article 23.4: Right to join a trade union · Article 24:  Right to rest & leisure  · Article 25.1: Right to an adequate standard of living · Article 25.2: Right to special care and assistance for mothers and children  · Article 26.1: Right to education · Article 26.2: Human rights education · Article 26.3: Right to choice of education · Article 27.1: Right to participate in culture · Article 27.2: Right to intellectual property
Context, limitations and duties	Article 28: Social order · Article 29.1: Social responsibility  · Article 29.2: Limitations of human rights · Article 29.3: The supremacy of the purposes and principles of the United Nations · Article 30: Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.
Human Rights Category · Human Rights Portal

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