A Study on Motherhood in North Cyprus: ‘Yorgun Anneler Kulübü’ (Tired Mothers Club)

This thesis would like to investigate where Alpha generation mothers in North Cyprus stand in regards to certain topics. The Alpha generation children are born between 2010-2025. Their mothers are mostly working women. The topics of interest are the existence of maternal instinct, breastfeeding practices, (specifically their approach to breastfeeding in public) maternity/paternity leave, and parenting practices. Mothers of today are literate and have access to excessive knowledge through new media, unlike previous mothers. In this thesis, certain related posts on a Facebook group formed by a woman living in North Cyprus, ‘Yorgun Anneler Kulübü’ / ‘Tired Mothers club’ was analyzed, along with in-depth face-to-face interviews carried out with 12 mothers. The results depict that mothers are not pleased with the duration of maternity leave, and they believe that it affects the recommended exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months. The fact that paternity leave does not exist at all is considered a huge deficiency that needs to be addressed. It is as if the patriarchal government is intentionally creating a distance between the father and baby/ mother/ domestic duties. Mothers clash with the grandparents of the child regarding childcare and child-rearing but barely have a say as this is unpaid labor (provided by ‘women’ yet again. Better conditions need to be created to promote exclusive breastfeeding and better conditions need to be made to involve fathers for a healthier step to parenting. Some fathers (not all) have come a long way in comparison to previous generations but the state needs to do its part. More lactation consultants are needed, and prenatal post-natal classes should be established and funded by the government. Needless to say, babies are the future and every party should do its best to ensure that they are both psychologically and physiologically well.