Ser madre en los sectores populares: una aproximación al sentido que las mujeres le otorgan a la maternidad

this article reflects on the meanings of motherhood for women of the popular sectors, and on how "being a mother" is socially perceived ad valued. the paper argues that due to the great heterogeneity within the sector under study, perceptions and representations of motherhood vary according to age (teenagers, young or adult women), place of origin (city outskirts, the provinces, bordering countries), and socialization environments in the latter years (city slums, temporary settlements, squatter houses, tenement hotels). this explains the choice of the notion "motherhoods" rather than 'motherhood.' the research compares the meanings of motherhood for teenage moms who live in marginal areas in the city outskirts, deprived of the possibility of overcoming the cultural frontiers of their own group. it also discusses the meanings assigned by young and adults moms who come from semi-rural areas in the provinces and currently reside in tenement hotels in the city, a habitat that allows them to interact with "cultural others".