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Nobody asked the mother: women and maternity on Simbo, western Solomon Islands
Author(s) -
Dureau Christine
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
oceania
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.356
H-Index - 25
eISSN - 1834-4461
pISSN - 0029-8077
DOI - 10.1002/j.1834-4461.1993.tb02445.x
Subject(s) - oppression , gender studies , ambivalence , christianity , nobody , sympathy , sociology , child rearing , psychology , social psychology , developmental psychology , history , political science , law , computer science , operating system , archaeology , politics
‘I don't believe you. They say that because they're infertile … The life of a mother on Simbo is very hard but if I have no children, then why am I on this earth? And my life will be empty. 1 Look at Zila 2 [a woman in an infertile marriage] who has nothing except cats and adopted animals. Will her cats carry her coffin or cry for her? But my children stop me from doing all the things I need and want to do in the church and the UCWF and the lineage. The life of a mother on Simbo is very hard.’ Gure, explaining her equivocal reaction to hearing that some Western women are intentionally childless.