Name: Ita Buttrose
Bio: Former editor, television presenter & author, most recently, A Guide to Australian Etiquette
Motherguilt – 26th April 2005
The Motherguilt Phenomenon
This speech was printed in Sydney Papers Vol.17 No.2 in 2005 (pages 131-138)
According to Ita Buttrose, magazine editor and co-author of the book Motherguilt: Australian Women Reveal Their True Feelings About Motherhood (Penguin 2005), feelings of guilt in mothers are real and widespread. “Mother guilt is an unrealistic guilt, that happens when we become mothers,” says Buttrose. “We have unrealistic expectations of our role and it’s impossible to be perfect and when things go wrong as they often do when you raise children you think it must be our fault… I think there’s an epidemic of it and the epidemic has been increasing in the last thirty years.” Ita Buttrose addressed The Sydney Institute on Tuesday 26 April 2005.