DiQuinzio, Patrice

The Associate Provost for Academic Services at Washington College, in Chestertown, Maryland, Patrice DiQuinzio earned a bachelor's degree from Villanova and a Ph.D. from Bryn Mawr. As an author of several books and articles on mothering and feminist theory, DiQuinzio is a well-written scholar on motherhood.

Describing and illustrating the difficulty of embodying the totality of the ideal mother in U.S. society, which tends to reward perfection and the achievement of an ideal type of woman, while at the same time tending to fault others who fail to succeed, DiQuinzio contends that the United States provides little to no material or social support to mothers and children. This is the difficulty inherent in mothering, as described by DiQuinzio her 1999 book The Impossibility of Motherhood.

DiQuinzio often ...