Matroreform

Matroreform is a term coined by Canadian feminist psychologist and maternal theorist Gina Wong-Wylie in her article, “Images and Echoes in Matroreform: A Cultural Feminist Perspective,” published in a 2006 issue of Journal of the Association for Research on Mothering.

She evolved the concept from matrophobia, first introduced by poet Lynn Sukenick. Adrienne Rich, a renowned feminist maternal theorist, in her 1986 work Of Woman Born: Motherhood as Experience and Institution, described matrophobia as occurring when women split themselves in a desire to purge themselves of their mothers' bondage, to become individuals free from the expectation of perfecting a full-time domestic housewife role.

Rich goes on to explain that matrophobia is the fear of becoming one's mother, as daughters witness their mothers compromise and struggle to free ...