The Balancing Act Is Magnified:

Cummins, Molly Wiant; Brannon, Grace Ellen

doi:10.2307/j.ctv1h45mcj.20

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…Therefore, the simple binary of good/bad is challenged when encountered through haecceity and a middle, an emergent subject is sought. Cummins and Brannon (2021) identified that the pressure of intensive mothering was further compounded during the pandemic. They conclude that if ideas of good mothering are societal and normative, then the experiences of mothering during a pandemic needs further attention to potentially rethink these definitions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Haecceity of Becoming-Mother: A Diffractive Analysis of Babywearing Through a Global Pandemic

Platt

2023

Cultural Studies ↔ Critical Methodologies

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This paper problematizes notions of good/bad mothering by putting to work Deleuze and Guattari’s haecceity. Focusing on babywearing, it presents an autoethnography of my experiences of becoming-mother during the Covid-19 pandemic. Using diffractive analysis, I analyze the entanglement of my experiences of babywearing, research diaries, images/selfies, the regulations introduced during the pandemic, and the “global cultural script” of being a good mother. It works toward a position of (k)not knowing, being open to the unknown. Under the lens of haecceity, becoming-mother is “thisness”—a middle, knotting, and unknotting, ever emergent.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Haecceity of Becoming-Mother: A Diffractive Analysis of Babywearing Through a Global Pandemic

Platt

2023

Cultural Studies ↔ Critical Methodologies

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“…Furthermore, participants identified the benefit of receiving more structured and scaffolded training programming to adequately prepare for advancements in their roles. COVID-19 impacted the trajectories of women’s work roles by increasing their physical presence in the home, increasing their reliance on technology and mitigating opportunities for in-person connection (Cummins and Brannon, 2021; Lyttelton et al , 2022; Yang et al , 2022), and as telework continues in many workplaces (Saad and Wigert, 2021), these challenges are likely to remain. Thus, these findings offer an important understanding of how to better support working mothers as they navigate the dual responsibilities of motherhood and upward career growth.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These findings underscore the emotional strain of balancing work and childcare as the pandemic continued (Carli, 2020). Similarly, Cummins and Brannon (2021) highlighted this struggle for mothers during the pandemic by asserting that women experience a process of culturally shaped individualization in their roles as mothers that, in turn, promotes feelings of shame and guilt when work requirements impede their ability to perform caregiving tasks. As a result, many mothers reported feelings of exhaustion or a lack of desire to seek out further career opportunities, which may impede their ability to acquire or remain in management positions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…During the COVID-19 pandemic, mothers experienced a depletion of time resources due to the newfound care responsibilities acquired through mandated school and work closures (Cummins and Brannon, 2021). As a result, mothers decreased their work hours by approximately four to five times more than fathers, magnifying the already prominent gender gap salient to employment and income (Collins et al , 2021).…”

Section: Women and Household Work During Covid-19mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Setbacks, strain and stress: lived experiences of U.S. working mothers during COVID-19

Rosen,

Scott,

Urban

et al. 2023

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Purpose The purpose of this study was to examine the lived experiences of working mothers during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic and assess their perceptions of the types of training opportunities that would help advance their careers as they navigated pandemic-related challenges. Design/methodology/approach In study 1, 53 participants responded to an online survey that included open-ended questions regarding the impact COVID-19 has had on their careers and desires they have for training to ameliorate these concerns. For study 2, 10 participants completed an interview that included open-ended questions regarding workplace changes and professional development/training opportunities since the pandemic. Findings Thematic analysis showed mothers facing several setbacks in their careers, including delays, loss of hours and wages, childcare stressors and strained or lost relationships with colleagues and supervisors. A small number of participants also reported some surprisingly positive experiences, such as a push toward career innovation. Participants reported little to no exposure to career development opportunities and expressed a desire for training for leadership and interpersonal connection in the workplace. Originality/value Although quantitative data have been helpful in identifying and quantifying growing gender gaps in work during the pandemic, the qualitative analyses the authors used highlight how recent difficulties encountered by working mothers risk a growing gender gap in work and career mobility as women in the leadership pipeline struggle with challenges. Further, the findings suggest ways that women in management can support the working mothers on their staff, including by suggesting ways additional training may address some concerns.

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Mothering in a Pandemic: Navigating Care Work, Intensive Motherhood, and COVID-19

Cummins

Brannon

2022

Gend. Issues

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Even before COVID-19, women around the world performed more unpaid domestic labor, specifically unpaid care labor, than men. COVID-19 has only exacerbated the gender gap in this domestic labor. For Western women, especially mothers in the United States of America, the normative discourse of intensive motherhood and the gendered pressure inherent in the unrealistic standards set by the discourse have only increased the amount of unpaid domestic and care labor required of mothers. Using qualitative, in-depth interviews with 18 mothers during May-June 2020, this study examines privileged mothers' perceptions of what they did well in parenting both before and during the early part of the COVID-19 pandemic. The mothers' pragmatic adaptations during the pandemic posed challenges to the norms of intensive motherhood, as did emergent ideas about integrative mothering articulated before the pandemic's onset. We find that while COVID-19 has increased expectations on mothers, it has also provided a turning point wherein expectations can be changed, as the participants suggested. Implications for intensive motherhood scholars, mothers, and communication researchers are discussed, along with future research. Keywords Intensive motherhood • COVID-19 • Gendered pressures • Qualitative methodologyThe Organisation for Economic Co-ooperation and Development (OECD) explains unpaid care and domestic work as "non-market, unpaid work carried out in households (by women primarily, but also to varying degrees by girls, men and boys) which includes both direct care (of persons) and indirect care (such as cooking, cleaning, fetching water and fuel, etc.)" [47, para. 2]. As the OECD noted, most

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The Balancing Act Is Magnified:

Cited by 5 publications

References 0 publications

Haecceity of Becoming-Mother: A Diffractive Analysis of Babywearing Through a Global Pandemic

Haecceity of Becoming-Mother: A Diffractive Analysis of Babywearing Through a Global Pandemic

Setbacks, strain and stress: lived experiences of U.S. working mothers during COVID-19

Mothering in a Pandemic: Navigating Care Work, Intensive Motherhood, and COVID-19

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