Feminist Mothering: Challenging Gender Inequality by Resisting the Institution of Motherhood and Raising Children to be Critical Agents of Social Change.

Fiona Joy Green

doi:10.18740/s42k57

Abstract

In spite of the significant contributions of feminists to feminist theorizing and research on motherhood and mothering, only a few scholars are paying attention to the analysis of the potential of feminist mothering as a site of women’s strength and resistance to patriarchy and as a location of revolutionary activism. This article explores how the work of conscious feminist mothers can empower women to break free from the rules of patriarchal motherhood to create their own models of mothering and, in turn, practice the invaluable work of rearing children to be active conscientious citizens for social justice. Excerpts from several interviews with sixteen self-identified feminist mothers, conducted for a larger research project on feminist mothering, provide concrete examples of how having a feminist consciousness transform the work of mothering into both a “rewarding, disciplined expression of conscience” proposed by Ruddick, and a location of active social change theorized by Chodorow (1978) and Rich (1986)

Highlights

As I have said, the work of mothering can become a rewarding, disciplined expression of conscience
To destroy the institution [of motherhood] is not to abolish motherhood. It is to release the creation and sustenance of life into the same realm of decision, struggle, surprise, imagination and conscious intelligence, as any other difficult, but freely chosen work (Rich, 1986:280). In her classic book Of Woman Born: Motherhood as Experience and Institution, poet, feminist and mother, Adrienne Rich argues that motherhood has two meanings in which “one is superimposed on the other: the potential relationship of any woman to her powers of reproduction and to children; and the institution, which aims at ensuring that that potential – and all women – shall remain under male control”
This article contributes to the growing research in feminist scholarship by exploring how the work of being a conscious feminist mother, proposed by Gordon (1994), O’Reilly (2004), Reddy et al (1994), Rich (1986) and Ruddick (1984) can empower women to break free from the rules of patriarchal motherhood and create their own models of mothering. Does it expand upon these two actions associated with feminist mothering, it contributes to the research on feminist mothering by providing concrete examples of how a number of self-identified feminist mothers living within a particular geographical location during a specific historical time period create a working model of feminist mothering for themselves, where they consciously intertwine their feminism and mothering, making it a site of resistance to patriarchal constructions of motherhood and parenting

Summary

Fiona Joy Green University of Winnipeg

Résumé Malgré l’importante contribution des féministes à la recherche et à la théorie féministes dans le domaine de la maternité et de l’éducation des enfants par les femmes, rares sont les chercheurs s’attachant à analyser l’éducation féministe des enfants comme source de force, comme lieu de résistance potentiel à la patriarchie et d’activisme révolutionnaire. Le présent article explore la façon dont le travail de mères délibérément féministes peut donner aux femmes le pouvoir d’échapper au carcan de la maternité patriarcale, de créer leurs propres modèles d’éducation des enfants et d’en faire ainsi des citoyens actifs susceptibles de défendre la justice sociale. Des extraits de plusieurs entrevues réalisées avec seize mères se définissant comme féministes, entrevues menées dans le cadre d’un projet de plus grande envergure sur l’éducation féministe des enfants, donnent des exemples concrets sur la façon dont une conscience féministe peut transformer le travail de mère et en faire, d’une part, ce que Ruddick envisageait comme une expression enrichissante et disciplinée d’une conscience, d’autre part, le locus du changement social délibéré prôné par Chodorow (1978) et Rich (1986)

Introduction

Feminist Mothers

Consciously Mothering

The Transformative Work of Feminist Mothering

Conclusion