Mothering as Work

Social Reproduction

Mothering comprises a range of physical, social, and material activities and relations that have generally been framed between a mother and her child. But women's mothering contributes to broader familial, social, and economic structures as well as having a crucial role in social provisioning for each individual child and within families. When mothering is framed as work, it points to the necessary skills and intent that women must bring to mothering practice in order that it is successful. This work can usefully be termed social reproduction, which emphasizes [Page 835]the biological, social, and cultural activities that are encompassed within mothering.

The socially organized intersection of women's reproductive capabilities and child rearing in most societies has generated assumptions about the naturalness of mothering. While some early feminist accounts in the 20th century (notably Simone de Beauvoir in the Second Sex, 1949) accepted a view of mothering as innate and unskilled and therefore without great value, more recent feminist analyses of motherhood and mothering have consistently challenged this assumption and argued for the need to reevaluate women's productive contributions as mothers. Feminist scholars have sought to illuminate the range, impact, and value of the labors of mothering. They have examined the constituent elements of mothering, and have included the biological and physiological activities of pregnancy and childbearing, the constant provision of care, and the emotional and affective labors provided by women in their outlines of mothering work. They have argued for recognition of the skills, knowledge, and capacities that are enacted in mothering practices; this recognition pushes toward the reconfiguration of mothering as work.

In addition, feminist scholars have drawn attention to the intersections of the private and public spheres in the work of mothering, illuminating the contribution mothers make as social actors who provide crucial unpaid care that supports children, families, and societies. This impetus to recognize mothering as work has been grounded in the desire to ensure that the contribution of women's mothering is understood beyond the boundaries of individual children and families and is recognized as valuable and important labor. The United Nations Human Development Report (1999) pointed to the critical importance of care for healthy societies and recognized the vital unpaid contribution that women make as mothers.

Different Values of Mothering Work

Mothering practices emerge from prevailing social, cultural, and economic conditions; part of women's work as mothers is to negotiate these conditions in order to achieve the best possible outcomes for children and families. When women's mothering work is constrained or interrupted by oppressive patriarchal, social, or political interventions, the well-being of children and societies more generally is compromised. An important aspect of understanding mothering as work is recognizing that some groups of women face great challenges and oppressions as they mother and that the reproductive and caring labor of different groups of women continues to be differentially valued. Some groups of women have had their mothering practice interrupted or constrained. Feminist scholars of colonialism have pointed to the ways in which the mothering labor and the children of indigenous peoples were taken away. Contemporary feminist scholars of globalization have pointed to the commodification of various elements of mothering work and the ways in which inequalities between women (women of developed countries, undeveloped countries, wealthy women, and poorer women) shape the value and security of mothering. The mothering work of some women supports children and societies far distant from their own and may create deficits in maternal care and labor within their own families or communities.

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