The Mothering Perceptions of Women Abused by Their Partner

Abstract

This study examined how abused women perceived their mothering. Findings reveal the women’s continuous struggle to function as good mothers in the face of the violence. Their main struggle—to create a buffer between “the children’s world” and the “violent world”—was directed at preventing the abuse from affecting their functioning as mothers, restraining and “fixing” their partner’s violence, and shielding their children from it. Although the women felt that they have succeeded in this task, they also referred to their children’s exposure to violence. The discussion centers on the split evident in the women’s narratives between their mothering and their experience of violence.