In art
Throughout history, mothers have been depicted in 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 Enlightenments preoccupation with strong family bonds and 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 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 the Virgin Mary, an archetypal mother and a key historical basis for depictions of mothers in western art from the European Renaissance onwards.
In modern Western countries the current maternal mortality rate is around 10 deaths per 100,000 births. Religious
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 scriptural canon regarding mothers include: Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Some examples of honoring motherhood include the Madonna or Blessed Virgin Mother Mary for Catholics, and the multiple positive references to active womanhood as a mother in the Book of Proverbs. Hindus Mother Goddess and Demeter of ancient Greek pre-Christian belief are also mothers. Mother-offspring violence
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 ones mother) and filicide (the killing of ones son or daughter) have been studied but remain poorly understood. Psychosis and schizophrenia are common causes of both, and young, indigent mothers with 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.