Desire for motherhood among women with higher education: conflict, change and permanence

Abstract This paper analyzes the perceptions and meanings of motherhood for a group of women with high education, married or in consensual union, with no more than one child, residents of a mid-size city. Data come from sixteen semi-structured interviews conducted in 2018 in the municipality of Governador Valadares, MG. Results show that although motherhood is a desired and valued event, the decision is loaded with doubts regarding the difficulties to reconcile raising a child with the desire for freedom and professional growth. Doubts emerge as motherhood continues to have a prominent place in women’s lives, even within a rather avant-garde group. Becoming a mother remains a significant event in their lives. Conflicts generated by the simultaneous existence of the desire to be a mother and the new individual projects unveiled to women defies the common perception that links schooling to reproductive intentions.