Maushart, Susan

Mask of Motherhood

Maushart uses the term mask of motherhood, originally coined by Adrienne Rich in 1977, to describe the brave face that women put on in order to convince the world that the job of mothering is easy and instinctive. This sets up unrealistic expectations that for many women lead to feelings of failure and frustration. The mask of motherhood, according to Maushart, keeps women silent about what they feel and suspicious of what they know. Focusing on the concept of masks as tools of deception, Maushart questions the reasons for our anxiety to protect this image of effortlessness. She concludes that the transformation of parenthood from biological inevitability to choice has caused today's mothers to be more conscious of parenting as a performance, and more anxious to receive rave reviews.

In separate chapters, Maushart discusses pregnancy, childbirth, and breastfeeding. She uses breastfeeding as an example of a maternal proving ground, where success breeds arrogance, and failure, guilt. Other chapters are devoted to the juggled life and gendered expectations. Most women start off with the expectation of combining motherhood with the rest of their lives, but instead of finding balance, they end up with the precarious reality of juggling, always afraid to drop the balls. In response, Maushart urges women to let go of the Supermom idol and accept their own imperfections as easily as they accept those of their male partners.

Maushart has caused some controversy by pointing to women's own complicity in masking their daily lives and struggles. Critics have also drawn attention to her narrow focus on heterosexual, middle-class mothers and pointed to the lack of suggestions as to how mothers might improve the situation, apart from repeated appeals to talk about it.

Delineation of Labor

In Maushart's subsequent book Wifework: What Marriage Really Means for Women, She describes wifework as the care and maintenance of men's bodies, minds, and egos. The term wifework is a shorthand for the unwritten contract into which a woman enters upon marriage. Many wives perform a disproportionate share of unpaid household labor, even when both spouses are gainfully employed, thus working a second or third shift. This wifework [Page 743]is not only restricted to physical chores; it also consists of equally important but less-acknowledged tasks like assuming responsibility for the husband and children's emotional caretaking, as well as organizing most of the day-to-day activities.

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