Maushart, Susan

Susan Maushart is most well known for her 1999 book The Mask of Motherhood: How Becoming a Mother Changes Everything and Why We Pretend It Doesn't. Born 1958 in New York, the twice-divorced mother of three children now lives in Perth, Western Australia, where she has been working as a columnist for the Weekend Australian Magazine and as a research associate and instructor in Social Sciences at Curtin University. Her research into the meaning of contemporary motherhood and into the work of women within marriage (wifework) has garnered wide attention.

Maushart's The Mask of Motherhood takes a close look at the effects of having children on mothers. For most women, the reality of motherhood clashes with preconceived notions. It is at the same time more central, ...