Woman, Mother, and Professional: Discursive Incidences in Contemporary Society

Abstract

This article reflects on the social positioning of women who are mothers within contemporary discourses, the impact of the capitalist discourse as conceptualized by Lacan, and the possible pathways available to subjects who identify themselves in this way today. Recognizing that the subject is inseparable from the social context, the study provides a historical contextualization of social changes surrounding the figure of women, with particular emphasis on motherhood and work. It offers an overview of what work and professional life may represent, in subjective terms, for women. It should be noted that the article focuses predominantly on the experiences of cisgender, heterosexual women. The analysis is grounded in Lacan’s theory of discourses, as well as in the contributions of authors who address this topic, to examine cultural ideals, the forms of suffering produced by capitalist discourse, and possible avenues of response. Lacan theorizes the possibility of discursive shifts, indicating potential exits from the rigidity that tends to emerge when the subject is situated within this discourse. While some women appear engulfed by ideals and narratives of totality and fulfillment, impossible to attain, and suffer in this position of subjection, others are able to occupy subjective positions of questioning. This is not without suffering, but it allows for the circulation of desire. Cultural spaces and movements that support such questioning positions foster conditions in which motherhood, combined with professional life, can take place in ways that respect each woman’s singularity and sustain the circulation of desire.