Introduction

Becoming a mother requires that women experiencing motherhood reconstruct their identity and rebuild the concept of oneself, as well as building a set of ideas, beliefs and self-judgements. The points of reference for interpreting situations and developing meanings of mothering are the existing social patterns, established norms and social expectations of the role of a mother. Women evaluate and prioritise their participation in various areas of social life (family, profession and social terms), and create motherhood practices and strategies for performing the role that evolve during the stages of motherhood. Recognising, defining and interpreting one's role as a mother is connected with assessment of oneself in the role in reference to the definitions of other people who may acknowledge or question the woman's competences. Therefore, identity becomes a configuration of a person's self-identification in the context of their social interactions (Hałas, 2006).

In the Polish linguistic picture of the world, ‘mother’ is one of the key existential categories, like home, family, land and nation, and occupies a high position in the axiological system that results from family, religion and national traditions (Bartmiński, 2012). Family and the roles it involves constitute a significant area of identification, although men and women differ in this respect. Women attach much greater significance to the role of a parent than men do; children and marriage change their self-identification, and being a mother and a wife is put before being a person and a woman. Particularly for women with a lower education level and those living in small towns, traditional roles seem natural and without an alternative (Titkow, 2007). Motherhood is also valued by society, such that a woman who takes on the role of a mother and fulfils it well improves her status in the family and the local community (Maciarz, 2004).

Both public and scientific discourses disseminate the motherhood models that are socially legitimised and exist in a given culture, standardising the process of becoming and being a mother. The two opposite positions between which variants emerge may be termed conservative and liberal discourses.