Philippine E-Journals

What Makes Woman Woman

Maybelle Marie O. Padua

Discipline: Philosophy

 

Abstract:

This essay defends the position that woman has a feminine distinctive nature. Using Edith Stein’s philosophical notion of “woman”, this paper argues the claim that woman’s nature as biological mother makes her intrinsically different from man. The fact is that woman’s monthly reproductive cycle prepares her to nurture a new human being within her very body. Even if she does not become a biological mother (because she is single or celibate), her psyche is naturally designed for intimacy and closeness with persons. This capacity for motherhood affects woman’s whole being and distinguishes her with two essential characteristics: attraction to the personal and attraction to wholeness.