The Making of a Mother: A Case Study of the Relationship Between a “Comfort Woman” Mother and Her Daughter

• Main Authors: Espeso, Audrey Zazel C., Bechayda, Roxanne T., Chua, Hailey Anne T., De Guzman, Airish Gale B.
• Format: text
• Published: Animo Repository 2023
• Subjects: comfort women; intergenerational trauma; mother-daughter relationship; World War II; case study
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/conf_shsrescon/2023/paper_frs/3; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/context/conf_shsrescon/article/1835/viewcontent/The_Making_of_a_Mother__A_Case_Study_of_the_Relationship_Between_a__Comfort_Woman__Mother_and_Her_Daughter.docx.pdf
• Institution: De La Salle University

While the bloodshed of World War II has come to an end, its wreckage haunts and lingers on for many generations of “comfort women.” With many victims of the “comfort women” system gradually decreasing, there is a need to urgently concretize their experiences now more than ever. Thus, the current study aimed to determine the intergenerational impact of the “comfort women”’ system by examining a “comfort woman’s” relationship with her daughter in a single case study. Following an analysis of a semi-structured interview, four themes emerged that describe the relationship dynamics between the participants, namely: mindset and attitude, communication style, parenting style, and secure attachment style. The study concludes that the experiences of the “comfort woman” influenced their behavior as a mother through actions such as being protective towards her children and experiencing emotions including fear and sadness for future generations. These behaviors allowed the daughter to adopt her mother's exact optimistic, strong-willed, and active nature, similarly employing the same parenting styles to her own children. Therefore, the mother and daughter were able to form a stronger bond by being open and supportive of each other.