Constructs and contradictions of mothering identities as experienced by new mothers in the postnatal period in a contemporary urban setting

Mavis Machirori

doi:10.21825/digest.v7i2.16566

Abstract

The postnatal transition to mothering is experienced in a range of ways, and brings with it diverse emotions and reflections on one’s own identity and the anticipated (spoken or not) actions that should accompany those identities. Accounts of mothering highlight some difficult and contested ideals and behaviours that new mothers have to work through. Based on empirical work conducted with new mothers from a west London borough, I will show how most mothering practices and behaviours appear to continue to be in constant battle with institutional, social and cultural expectations. The paper highlights how participants navigated those contested ideals and behaviours, judging themselves and other mothers, thereby feeding into a cycle of idealistic mothering. By embracing or challenging conceptions, a mothering identity emerges as a way for new mothers to legitimate their own feelings and seek agency while also trying to fit into a perception of what makes good mothering.

Highlights

The last three decades have seen a proliferation of research seeking to understand the challenges or experiences that new mothers or parents in Western societies face after their child is born (Austin & Carpenter, 2008; Douglas & Michaels, 2004; Guendouzi, 2005; Heisler & Ellis, 2008; Laney, et al, 2015)
Scenarios that idealise mothering and the transition period are guided by normative ideas of what a good mother is, with no acknowledgement of how time or contexts shape new mothers’ constructions of mothering in the immediate postnatal period, or how they adjust to the transition period between birth and early childhood
Using data from an ethnographic study of eighteen mothers from a West London borough, this study explores identities of good mothering and asks how new mothers balanced the identities available to them as they transitioned into the postnatal period

Summary

Introduction

The last three decades have seen a proliferation of research seeking to understand the challenges or experiences that new mothers or parents in Western societies face after their child is born (Austin & Carpenter, 2008; Douglas & Michaels, 2004; Guendouzi, 2005; Heisler & Ellis, 2008; Laney, et al, 2015). In the absence of written texts to guide new mothers, understanding how women construct certain mothering identities as they transition into the postnatal period and beyond, to the early childhood phase, requires a deeper investigation of the social and familial contexts in which they live. This moves us beyond surface descriptions of mothering identities as binary descriptions of good or bad, but towards the complex and highly reflexive ways new mothers create their identities. Veenhoven suggested that this perception of risky choices – which in motherhood could equate to bad choices and bad mothering

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Results

Conclusion