'Being a mother is a science': women, physicians, and the construction of scientific maternity in the 1920's

The article analyzes the construction of the notion of scientific maternity in Brazil in the 1920s as part of the broad republican reform project meant to build nationhood. With the active participation of women, multiple social agents were involved in configuring the maternalist discourse and in reshaping relations between women and doctors into a partnership negotiated around a mutual interest in valuing maternity. Special attention is paid to the essential role played by women's magazines in this process.