The Second Sex

by De Beauvoir, Simone (2011)

Key Passage

to give birth and to breast-feed are not activities but natural functions; they do not involve a project,which is why the woman finds no motive there to claim a higher meaning for her existence;she passively submits to her biological destiny. Because housework alone is compatible withthe duties of motherhood, she is condemned to domestic labor, which locks her intorepetition and immanence; day after day it repeats itself in identical form from century tocentury; it produces nothing new. (p.68)

Keywords

Gender, Feminism, Feminist Theory, Women, Womens Work, Reproduction, Biology, Maternal Work, De Beauvoir, Socialism

Themes

De Beauvoir Citations, Mothering, Care Work

Citation

Share

How to contribute.