Objective:To explore the meaning of motherhood that a group of working women from the department of Quindío have built and how they adapt to the situation of being mothers and working. Method:Qualitative phenomenological study carried out with 16 women, workers and mothers, with diverse educational levels and jobs, who lived their maternity experience in the city of Armenia, Quindío.Sampling was of the opinion type for convenience, using the snowball technique, until information saturation was achieved; it was obtained through a semi-structured interview, after signing an informed consent.The data obtained was analyzed by thematic content analysis, following the phases described by Taylor-Bogdan (1987) discovery, coding and relativization of data.The study was supported by specialized software for data processing for qualitative research called ATLAS.ti version 9. Results:1932 codes were identified.Subsequently, the codes that shared the same meaning were grouped and 9 categories were created.In a second phase, a synthesis and grouping of the categories was carried out and three emerging themes were created: Being a mother: Realities and transcendence in personal life; mother and working woman, a current reality and legislation: perceptions and realities of the working mother.These allow to respond to the specific objectives and as a whole respond to the general objective set for this research.