‘Parenting’ or ‘mothering’? The case of modern childcare magazines

Abstract

Many magazines devoted to the topic of the care of babies and young children now have titles which include some variation of parent rather than of mother (e.g. Parent and Child rather than Mother and Baby). This corresponds to evident new directions in social practices, and suggests a desire of the publishers to appeal to female and male readers. Whether both mothers and fathers are addressed and represented in the magazines makes these magazines particularly interesting sites for the study of fatherhood discourses. In this study, three magazines ( Parents, Parenting and Baby Years) were analysed in terms of the extent to which the language of their advice features addressed women and/or men, and whether they could be seen as promoting ‘shared parenting’, ‘hands-on’ fatherhood, or at least a father-friendly environment. An examination of linguistic representation (in particular, of fathers), visuals, ‘voices’, gendered stereotypes and gendered discourses of parenting suggested that fathers are in fact not being fully addressed. These magazines may be lagging behind current social change and practices in ‘Western’ parenting.

“Maternal Devices”, Social Media and the Self-Management of Pregnancy, Mothering and Child Health

“…Men, who are more rational, need to be given information on how to keep their emotional wives happy! The features of these apps for men suggest a particular role for men during pregnancy, one which is -backgrounded‖, as Sunderland argues in relation to parenting magazines [62,67]. A male partner's role in pregnancy and parenting is still discussed, or in the case of apps -designed‖, in a somewhat condescending or patronising manner.…”

Medier och barns hälsa. Från peppning och glamour till trygg vägledning

“…Däremot är för-äldramagasinen beforskade i liten utsträckning (Sunderland, 2006;Clarke, 2010). I de fåtal studier, de flesta amerikanska och kanadensiska, som finns, konstateras det att fäderna rutinmässigt exkluderas (Sunderland, 2006), att magasinen reproducerar en traditionell modersroll samt att de vänder sig till den engagerade modern av vit medelklass och som lever i ett heterosexuellt förhållande (Clarke, 2010). Detta trots att magasinen påstår sig vända sig till "föräldrar".…”

“…Ibland förekommer bilder på hela familjen, men det är likväl mamman som uttalar sig. Hela kontexten kan med andra ord sägas vara "pro-mamma" (Sunderland, 2006).…”

‘Bad Mum Guilt’: the representation of ‘work-life balance’ in UK women’s magazines

“…Also, evidence from Canada shows that the way in which work-life balance is represented in news media reflects a 'male breadwinner/female caregiver' ideology (Gazso, 2004). A similarly gendered representation of parenting roles has been revealed by a UK study of UK parenting magazines (Sunderland, 2006). Although such studies of representations of work and family roles and work-life balance in interviews, policy documents and the media are becoming more common, there are still relatively few studies that examine how work-life balance issues are constructed in the UK media.…”