This article explores the construction of scientific motherhood in Portugal through the analysis of a set of texts on education for motherhood (n=628) published in Portuguese parenting magazines between 1945 and 1958. Our results show that the diffusion of a particular view of the ideal mother in parenting magazines contributes to the diffusion of a new ideology that stresses the importance of education for motherhood, the ideology of scientific motherhood. It also shows the emergence of different types of educational interventions, shaped by women's social class, and provides some insight into the extent to which mothers adhere to scientific motherhood.
scientific motherhood; education for motherhood; parenting magazines; discourse analysis