Journal of the Motherhood Initiative for Research and Community Involvement (JMI - York University)
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1824 research outputs found
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“Being a Mother in the Pandemic Was Intense”: Lived Experiences of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Britain and Japan
Full text linkIn a world where not one country has achieved gender equality and where in every country women do the majority of unpaid carework, socially constructed gender norms perpetuate women’s secondary status to men. The deep-rooted association between femaleness, caregiving, and the domestic is linked to the idea of female bodies as potential maternal bodies. When women become mothers, the social locations of gender and parental status intersect to exacerbate inequality
The Stories We Tell: Narratives of Mothering and Work during the Dual Pandemics of 2020
Full text linkNarratives remain powerful in shaping both the cultural stories and personal stories that inform our lives. Specifically, narratives concerning mothering and work are particularly powerful not only for women who are balancing professional life and childrearing responsibilities but also for our larger cultural understanding of what and who society has deemed a “working mother” is or should be. The complexities of these narratives were further complicated due to the simultaneous COVID-19 and racism pandemics of 2020 that exposed fractures in some of our most eminent narra-tives around mothering and work. Furthermore, and perhaps most importantly, the recent pandemics illuminated the fact that many of these narratives are incomplete and often exclude, overlook, or erase women of color and other women who occupy marginalized identities as well as the challenges they face. Our goal is to expose the gaps within these narratives against the backdrop of the dual pandemics and explore the historical and social contexts in which other narratives of mothering and work exist for women of color and other women with marginalized identities. Through centering the individual counterstories that challenge problematic narratives, we aim to use these examples to outline optimistic yet realistic possibilities that explore complexities within mothering and work and support learning and social change for a post-pandemic world
Maternal Reflections on Working from Home with Children during the Pandemic
Full text linkDue to widespread work and school closures during the early waves of the COVID-19 pandemic, many mothers were forced to work from home while supervising their children’s remote schooling. The current study examines maternal reflections on this period, focusing on the perceived impact of working in close proximity for both mothers and their children in the United States. Mothers reported that their children learned more about their job responsibilities since the onset of the pandemic compared to before it, which was likely due to children spending more time closer to their mothers while they worked. We used thematic analysis to examine mothers’ open-ended responses. Two overarching themes emerged. The first theme was that greater time together increases children’s understanding of working mothers’ role in the family, workplace, and community. The second theme was that observing one’s mother work from home can inform children’s future career paths. Mothers shared that this experience of learning about their mothers’ career enabled their children to better understand their perspective, which has the potential to be an empathy-building experience. Looking towards the future, this increased respect and empathy have the potential to improve relationship quality and help children view their mothers’ careers more favourably
Childbirth Narratives in the Canton of Ticino (Switzerland): Perceptions and Experiences of Mothers Who Gave Birth before and during COVID-19
Full text linkThis article analyzes written and oral narratives of pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum produced by women who gave birth before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in Italian-speaking Switzerland. By using textual analysis and qualitative descriptive research methodologies, I compare birth stories in two autobiographical essays published before the pandemic in 2018 and 2019 and twenty-three oral testimonies from women who birthed between March 2020 and March 2021. The aim of the exploratory study is to highlight the main elements that define positive and negative birth experiences to understand how better outcomes could be achieved in society and medical practice. The present article discusses preliminary results and addresses possible strategies to improve obstetrical and maternal care in the postpandemic period
Art Looking within MotherScholarhood: Art Elicitation for Self-Reflections and Sense Making
Full text linkThis study continues the ongoing collaborative autoethnographic, arts-based scholarship of three MotherScholars (Burrow et al.). This study presents both the critical self-reflections resulting from and advocacy for the process of art elicitation (Burrow and Burrow), which is a valid and effective methodology to allow MotherScholars a vital pause for valuable personal self-interrogation and renewed clarity within their scholarship. Like our previous research, this study reaffirms that MotherScholars need space and time to reflect on the fluidity and flexibility of their personal-professional identity as it is affected by natural life changes (e.g., children leaving home for college), unexpected transitions (e.g., divorce), and trauma (e.g., global pandemics). The necessity to find malleability in the MotherScholar identity can help women in academia name what they need and recognize what they are already uniquely suited to handle
Drawing (Out) the Evil (M)other of the Family Court
Full text linkAs an artist, PhD researcher, and lone mother to three teenagers, this article introduces a theory of matricentric drawing through an autoethnographic practice of performance drawing. During COVID-19, I turned to my ex-husband to share the care of our children, which backfired with devastating long-term consequences. Rather than softening the blow of the pandemic, the request for help had a slow and destructive effect on our mental health and wellbeing, opening the door for him to remove them from my care. Made in the lead up to the final hearing of a court case in which I risked losing custody of my children, the drawing process began as a reflection upon legal descriptions of myself as an evil (m)other through a textual analysis of the court bundle. The article documents my autoethnographic reflections, as they visualized the effect of legal abuse upon my body and triggered gesture and movements, which were then performed as drawing acts in the family home.
With reference to research on single mothers, the impact of COVID-19 and the underlying culture of misogyny, mother blaming, and postseparation legal abuse in the UK family courts, I consider how an autoethnographic approach to my art practice activated drawing as a maternal battle cry, disarming the attacks in legalese and re-armouring my body in preparation for the final hearing.
Performed through drawing on the floor and filmed from above within the space of the kitchen, the camera documents the interweaving of daily motherwork with acts of performance drawing. As the drawing evolves, the gestures unfold in synchrony with the authenticity of mother love and care through recorded speech interactions documenting family life. The article considers how matricentric feminism (O’Reilly) informs my arts practice in distinguishing motherhood from mothering as matri-centric drawing enacts an othering of the self. It is useful both in arts-practice research as reflective writing on performance drawing and feminist activism, as data for researchers and policymakers in disentangling the multiple effects on the health and wellbeing of lone mothers and their children during and after the pandemic
The Pandemic and Maternal Mental Health in the Western World: A Cross-Cultural Assessment with Refugee Mothers
Full text linkThis piece explores the impact of COVID-19 on maternal mental health in the West and further compares some of the experiences of newly resettled Afghan refugee mothers and their experiences adjusting to Western practices of motherhood. Points of interest in further establishing a community and culture that prioritizes mothers’ wellness are highlighted
Rethinking Vulnerability at the Intersection of Mothering and Social Work
Full text linkWithin an age of financial cutbacks and heightened austerity measures across social service sectors, attention to individualized factors can be prioritized over social factors in the lives of people reaching out for social support. This article focuss on the intersection of mothers and mothering with social work practice. Through an exploration of critical feminist vulnerability theory, I aim to illuminate ways that social workers and mothers experience caregiver vulnerability within social service contexts, which is shaped by patriarchal, white-supremacist, and neoliberalcapitalist values that decontextualize the gendered oppression that mothers experience both as women and as caregivers. I encourage the reader to consider how vulnerability in the lives of mothers may be reconceptualized as a strength and necessary part of autonomy and community connection. This article offers an introduction to the central ideas of feminist critical vulnerability theory and explores how traditional ways of understanding vulnerability contribute to stigma surrounding the themes of caregiver vulnerability and dependency in the lives of mothers seeking social support. A reflective case example is woven through the presentation of theory as a means of grounding the concepts and supporting the reader to consider how these ideas may shape their own work both as mothers and with mothers. By critically attending to the overarching concepts of vulnerability and autonomy, social workers may gain a deeper awareness of how these concepts impact their perspectives and interventions with the mothers. Such awareness supports the goals of safe and effective use of self within practice and contributes to an ethical practice of critical reflexivity