Motherhoodand Fatherhood

Week 15Sociology of Human Reproduction

Recap

• Considered the family as a social construction

• Look at different ways to conceptualise the family

• Considered shifting debates on family values

Outline

• Consider the relationship between womanhood and motherhood

• Examine position of childfree women or non-resident mothers

• Consider the meaning of fatherhood

Motherhood

• Motherhood is not a natural condition

• A socially constructed institution which appears to be natural

• Historical and cultural differences alert us to its changing nature

Pathways to Motherhood?

• Smart sets out the path to motherhood:

– Sexual activity – pregnancy – birth – mothering – motherhood

• She argues that rather than a natural chain, each stages specific choices are made within a specific social context

• Sexual activity need not involve penetration, pregnancy need not lead to birth

Pathways to Motherhood

• Smart also argues that giving birth did not always lead to motherhood.– Nannies and wet nurses– Baby farming and abandonment– Infanticide (First outlawed in England 1623)

• Birth was not presumed to trigger maternal feelings

• Laws and guidance would not be necessary if mothering was ‘natural’

Motherhood

• During 19th Century motherhood emerged as a legal category– Before only fathers existed in law

• Early feminists fought to get mothers recognised– Campaigns to allow women to keep their children

following divorce or separation

• Philanthropists and others began

to develop and impose standards

for working-class mothers

Motherhood

• Motherhood thus emerged as an ideology

• Linked to ideas about good child-rearing practices

• Normative practices were

resisted but became idealised

• To what extent to agree that the need for ‘rules’ for motherhood indicate that it is not a natural condition?

Womanhood and Motherhood

• Women’s ability to reproduce is key to understanding gender divisions

• Women are generally expected to become mothers– Girls play with baby dolls– ‘Suitable’ careers are linked to caring role– Women’s behaviour is judged in relation to

motherhood• Particularly sexuality

Womanhood and Motherhood

• Women are routinely discriminated at work on the basis of motherhood– In case they become mothers– When they are mothers

• Maternity benefits guaranteed by law and separate from sick leave– Different from abortion

Womanhood and Motherhood

• Women’s lives follow an expected pattern

– Presumption of heterosexuality– Presumption of marriage (or similar)

relationship– Presumption lead to child/children

Womanhood and Motherhood

• But motherhood also restricted by ideas of ‘good motherhood’– Disapproval of teenage pregnancy– Disapproval of older mothers– Disapproval of working mothers– Disapproval of lesbian mothers

• So good motherhood is both normalised and restricted simultaneously

• To what extend to you think women are always judged in relation to motherhood or potential motherhood?

Childfree women

• The expectation of motherhood means that childfree women are understood as an anomaly

• Often asked to explain their decision or assumption of infertility

• Assumption of selfishness, misplaced directions or mental illness

Mothers who leave

• Women who leave their children are considered the most problematic category

• Considered even more deviant and unnatural than women who are childfree

• Judged more harshly than fathers who leave

Mothers who leave

• The sanctions against women are related to the construction of motherhood as natural

• They also clearly show how a presumed rejection of motherhood means that women are not proper women

• These discourses help to produce what motherhood is

Fatherhood

• Just like motherhood, fatherhood has shifted over time

• Traditionally fathers expected to provide for their families– Good father = breadwinner

• Not obliged to be actively

involved in child-raising– Except in the case of discipline

Fatherhood

• Late 20th, role requirement shifted to be more involved

• Fathers expected to engage with their children– Emphasis often on positive interaction– Routine childrearing tasks can be shared, but

less important

Fatherhood

• Material Goods • Positive Role model

•

Fathers who leave

• Fathers who leave are also considered to be ‘deviant’

• In 1980s problem defined primarily as financial– Child Support Act 1991

• As involved parenting became important, debate shifted towards care deficit

Fatherhood Organisation

• The Child Support Act was the catalyst towards the collective organisation of fathers

• Often argue that Courts favour mothers over fathers

• Not supported in outcome of cases– Women are more likely to be resident parent, but were

primary carer beforehand

– Non-resident parent granted access in approx 94% cases

– Violent men routinely given access to their children

Summary

• Examined how motherhood and fatherhood has changed over time

• Looked at interrelationship between motherhood and womanhood

• Looked at perceptions of fathers and mothers who do not conform

Next week

• Build on ideas of good motherhood

• Examine pregnancy and breastfeeding

• Consider normative and embodied experiences