With more than 50,000 participants running the 26.2 miles, this year’s NYC marathon became the biggest marathon the city has seen. Out of the 50,000 runners a lot of them were not only female, but mothers as well. Every year we wonder how do these people do it? However this year, the bigger question seems to be how do these mothers do it?!
The idea of a “motherly instinct” is a social construct that has no scientific meaning. People use the term to take the pressure off fathers and put it on expectant moms and mothers. This pressure filled term is used when mothers are supposed to figure out what to do when their baby needs something, things they need to do while they are pregnant, and what foods they need to be eating to give the right nutrition to their baby. However, once society thinks that a mother is making the wrong choice, the idea that they have this “mother instinct” goes out the window and judgment comes pouring in.
Paula Radcliffe was the winner of the 2007 marathon. The event took place nine months after Radcliffe gave birth to her first-born daughter. Throughout Radcliffe’s entire pregnancy she trained with twice a day intense work out sessions. This of course did not come without the backlash of people, as they heard the work that Radcliffe was putting in to achieve her goal. As a result of her being pregnant, her goal was no longer her own, apparently it was societies business as well.
Women can and should exercise during their pregnancy, and they know better than anyone else what they can endure during their pregnancy. The stigma that women who take care of their bodies and stay fit while pregnant are seen as selfish should not be as prevalent as it is. After finishing her race and running to pick up her daughter other women realized that they can do the same. Paula Radcliffe became a positive role model for women to continue to pursue their goals, even when they have a child to devote their life to.
While men do not face the problem of wanting to be runners and fathers, mothers are stigmatized into questioning their priorities when they want to be runners as well as mothers. However, why can’t they have it all? Is this not the the age of women being told they should and can get it all (the job, the husband, the baby and the hobby)?
For more opinions and thoughts check out the New York Times article here.