The purpose of this study is to analyse the discourses about modem motherhood in Western und Korean society in order to find a new basis for the family policy. The general view that motherhood is merely natural ceased to be valid since the early 1980ties. Nowadays one is rather inclined to define motherhood as a social, cultural and historical fact which goes far beyond the biological dimensions. The concept of motherhood which has been useful to fulfil the industralisation in the modem times cannot be applied to the changed world of our times. The family policy which is closely connected with women must not start from the modem motherhood ideology but from the context of the changed life of woman in our times. I hope that this study could contribute to stimulating the discourse about the family policy which takes into consideration the changed living conditions.