A socio-psychological analysis of the manifestations of motherhood in working life: The case of Tunceli

This study aims to understand the experiences of women who try to balance between their motherhood roles and professional identity. The established expectations of motherhood ideology cause women to face many difficulties in their professional lives and leave them with challenging choices. In addition, the transformation of the identity of motherhood in the historical process is analysed with a theoretical framework and how this transformation intersects with women's career life today is discussed. In this framework, the research was conducted through teacher and academic mothers working in Tunceli city centre and mixed method (quantitative and qualitative) was used. In this mixed method study, a questionnaire was applied to 305 people and in-depth interviews were conducted with 14 people. The findings of the study revealed that there are important links between mothers' attitudes towards work life and their perceptions of motherhood. Significant positive correlations were found between the role of motherhood and the thought of working life, and negative correlations were found between the perception of motherhood and employment attitudes. Participants sometimes perceived motherhood as an instinctive identity and sometimes associated it with social pressure, expectations from the spouse and biological time concerns. According to the findings of the study, motherhood is not only a biological phenomenon but also a multifaceted identity shaped by cultural norms and social interactions. The findings revealed that the perception of motherhood role showed a significant difference according to age. It was found that the maternal role perceptions of women between the ages of 26-35 were higher than those of participants aged 36 and over. In addition, it was concluded that women working in higher education institutions had stronger maternal role perceptions. It was observed that as the level of education increases, attitudes towards motherhood become more positive and social awareness increases. This study has provided important socio-psychological findings on the balance that women aim to create between their maternal and professional identities. Keywords: Motherhood Role, Working Life, Motherhood, Working Women.