Displaying morally responsible motherhood: lone mothers accounting for work during non-standard hours

Abstract

This study examined how lone mothers rationalize their work during non-standard hours (e.g., evenings and weekends), which they perceive as problematic in terms of child wellbeing, and thereby as violating the culturally shared moral order of motherhood. The data comprise interviews with 16 Finnish lone mothers, analysed as accounts, with special focus on their linguistic features. The mothers displayed morally responsible motherhood through: (1) excusing work during non-standard hours as an external demand; (2) appealing to the inability to act according to good mothering ideals; (3) using adaptive strategies to protect child wellbeing; and (4) challenging the idea of risk. Our findings indicate that the moral terrain lone mothers must navigate is shaped by the ways in which their family situation contravenes powerful ideologies around good mothering, while their efforts to resist the ensuing stigma are constrained by the need to engage in work during nonstandard hours.

Providing, Performing and Protecting: The Importance of Work Identities in Negotiating Conflicting Work–Family Ideals as a Single Mother

“…Single mothers drawing primarily on such narratives tended to present work as commensurate with intensive mothering ideals (Hays, 1996) by narrating financial provision as an integral element of this. Such accounts support recent research focused on single mothers suggesting they largely sought to conform to intensive mothering ideals (Moilanen et al ., 2019b). Here, we found that conceptualizing work in this way aligned with part‐time working, organizing work around caregiving and only working as much as was financially necessary for their family.…”

“…Such identity work tended to coincide with downskilling, or no longer seeking progression, yet in all cases continuing to find a way to narrate work as integral to who they are. Further, it was the availability of different work narratives that appeared to influence conformity, or a lack thereof, to intensive mothering ideals, extending previous research (Hays, 1996; Moilanen et al ., 2019b) by considering when and why intensive mothering norms may be challenged in the context of single motherhood.…”

“…Hays, 1996; Johnston and Swanson, 2007). One recent study looking at single mothers in Finland suggested that narratives of intensive mothering remained important, influenced by efforts to resist cultural scripts suggestive of the superiority of the nuclear family (Moilanen et al ., 2019b). Though this might enable resistance to stereotypes of deficient single motherhood, socially approved versions of such maternal narratives may not be accessible.…”

“…Literatures outside management fields, such as within social policy (e.g. Nieuwenhuis and Laurie, 2018) and family studies (Moilanen et al ., 2019b), have explored single parents’ experiences, recognizing that, due to lack of another adult within the household, single parents are likely to experience greater challenges in managing competing role requirements (e.g. Moilanen et al ., 2019a).…”

“…Numerous reviews of work-life literature continue to draw attention to this overly simplistic notion of family and the subsequent lack of diversity (Gatrell et al, 2013;Özbilgin et al, 2011), whilst the experiences of diverse families remain relatively understudied in this field. Some scholars have begun to address Laurie, 2018) and family studies (Moilanen et al, 2019b), have explored single parents' experiences, recognizing that, due to lack of another adult within the household, single parents are likely to experience greater challenges in managing competing role requirements (e.g. Moilanen et al, 2019a).…”