Constructing the “Good Mother”: The Experience of Mothering Ideologies by Work Status

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore how mothers construct their worker-parent identity within a cultural context of competing mothering ideologies. We used narrative data from interviews with 95 married mothers with at least 1 child under the age of 5 to compare the construction of intensive mothering expectations by middle-class fulltime employed mothers, part-time employed mothers, and at-home mothers. Although previous research has shown that mothers alter work status to live up to intensive mothering expectations, our results show that mothers also alter their construction of intensive mothering expectations to reconcile these demands with their work status choices. The results also suggest that mothers with different employment decisions differ in their construction of Y. Elvin-Nowak and H. Thomsson's (2001) 3 discursive positions-accessibility, happy mother/happy child, and separation of work and home. Keywords Motherhood . Work and family . Ideology and identityWe live in an era of contested motherhood ideologies. However culturally and historically aberrant (Coontz, 1992;Degler, 1980;Shorter, 1975) and individually restrictive (Maushart, 1999;Rich, 1976) the dominant motherhood ideology of the last century may have been, motherhood expectations were clearly defined. The traditional mother

The Joy of Combining Librarianship and Motherhood

“…According to the traditional and still-pervasive myth, the "good mother" is the intensive, selfless mother, who is entirely absorbed and engaged with her sacred child or children, and where the needs of the child always take precedence over the needs of the mother (Thurer, 1995;Johnston & Swanson, 2006). Traditionally, it is assumed that the "good mother"…”

Mother and child constructions of risk in outdoor play

“…In contrast, 'bad' mothers pay little attention to the advice of experts, allow their children too much freedom and spend too little time with them (Furedi, 2008;Johnston and Swanson, 2006;Knaak, 2010;Valentine, 2004). Johnston and Swanson (2006) further refer to the ideology of intensive mothering, drawn from Hays (1996), as the dominant mothering ideology in contemporary culture, at least in North America.…”

“…In contrast, 'bad' mothers pay little attention to the advice of experts, allow their children too much freedom and spend too little time with them (Furedi, 2008;Johnston and Swanson, 2006;Knaak, 2010;Valentine, 2004). Johnston and Swanson (2006) further refer to the ideology of intensive mothering, drawn from Hays (1996), as the dominant mothering ideology in contemporary culture, at least in North America. Intensive mothering, Hays (1996) explains, is 'child centred, expert-guided, emotionally absorbing, labour intensive, financially expensive ideology in which mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture and development of the sacred child and which children's needs take precedence over the individual needs of the mothers' (Hays, 1996, p.46).…”

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“…Motherhood is culturally defined (Johnston & Swanson, 2006), and each society has its own customs, beliefs, expectations, values and symbols: the good mother is reinvented as each society defines her anew in its own terms, according to its own traditions (Duberley & Carrigan, 2013). Social structures such as class and ethnicity substantially influence the ways in which women become mothers, and how they view their responsibilities toward their children (Liamputtong, 2006).…”

“…Social structures such as class and ethnicity substantially influence the ways in which women become mothers, and how they view their responsibilities toward their children (Liamputtong, 2006). Some researchers argue that a good mother is one who is at home, full-time with her children (Johnston & Swanson, 2006;Duberley & Carrigan, 2013), whereas others claim that good mothering means that mothers feel they are responsible for caring for their children and training them in domestic work and social development.…”