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Mothering in the Age of Neoliberalism





Price: $34.95

Page Count: 394

Publication Date: February 2014

ISBN: 978-1-927335-28-4

Neoliberal policies and austerity measures have unequivocally altered the landscape of women’s lives globally. The most detrimental effect has been on mothers as they are faced with increasing responsibility and decreasing resources. Despite mothers being the primary producers, consumers, and repro- ducers of the neoliberal world, their centrality has been largely silenced within economic discourse. Thus, Mothering in the Age of Neoliberalism calls for a new economic framework to counter the individualized neoliberal model, one in which the needs of mothers and children are prioritized. This volume provides a crucial starting point. By identifying the sources of neoliberal failure toward mothers, we can begin to collectively formulate an alternative paradigm in which mothers’ voices are no longer rendered invisible, but rather predominate in the global landscape.  

“Mothering in the Age of Neoliberalism represents a significant contribution to scholars and researchers studying neoliberalism (by focusing attention on mothers who are often left out of the discourse), and gender/mothering (by emphasizing the importance of the political culture/structure to our micro expressions of identity). This volume offers a novel and much needed approach to the study of mothering and the role of public policy. This is not only timely, but well executed.”
—SARAH JANE GLYNN, Associate Director, Women’s Economic Policy, Center for American Progress

“This book does an admirable job in responding to the challenges of living and mothering in a neoliberal era. The topic is unambiguously significant and timely. We need this book.”
—MAY FRIEDMAN, School of Social Work, Ryerson University

Click here to read a review from Signs

Foreword: Countervisions
Christa Craven

Acknowledgements

Introduction: An Alternative Mother-Centred Economic Paradigm
Melinda Vandenbeld Giles

Section I: Mothering and Neoliberal Labour

Flexible Labour and Care Work

1. Multiplying Mothers: Migration and the Work of Mothering in Canada and the Philippines
Catherine Bryan

2 Across the Great Divide: Balancing Paid Work and Child Care in Neoliberal Times in Two Policy Jurisdictions in the Ottawa Valley, Canada
Patrizia Albanese, Megan Butryn, Louisa Hawkins and Courtney Manion

3 Mothers, Doulas, Flexible Labour and Embodied Care in the United States
Angela Castañeda and Julie Searcy

The Entrepreneurial Mother

4 “Doing It All...and Making It Look Easy!”: Yummy Mummies, Mompreneurs and the North American Neoliberal Crises of the Home
Gillian Anderson and Joseph G. Moore

5 Eco-Diapers: The American Discourse of Sustainable Motherhood
Chikako Takeshita

6 Negotiating Identities: The Case of Mompreneurs in Trinidad and Tobago
Talia Esnard

Section II: Mothering and the Neoliberal State

Austerity and the Silencing of Mothers

7 Making Invisible: The Eradication of “Homeless Mothers” from Public Policy in Ontario, Canada
Melinda Vandenbeld Giles

8 Neoliberalism and the De-politicising of Motherhood: Reflections on the Australian Experience
Joanne Baker

9 Austerity and Gender Neutrality: The Excluding of Women and Mothers from Public Policy in the UK
Jane Chelliah

The Making of “Good” Neoliberal Mothering Subjects

10 Welfare Queens and Anchor Babies: A Comparative Study of Stigmatized Mothers in the United States
Katrina Bloch and Tiffany Taylor

11 “Educating” Mothers through Media: The Therapy Market in South Korea and the Making of “Deviant” Children
Jesook Song and Yoonhee Lee

12 “Education of Mothers” in Turkey: Discourses on Maternal Propriety and Neoliberal Body Politics on Motherhood
Sevi Bayraktar

13 Affective Labour and Neoliberal Fantasies: The Gendered and Moral Economy of School Choice in England
Andrew Wilkins

Section III: Neoliberalism and the Nuclear Family

14 Redefining Single Motherhood: The 1990s Child Support Discourse and the Dismantling of the U.S. Welfare State
Celia Winkler

15 “Who Is in Charge of the Family?”: Religious Mothering, Neoliberalism, and REAL Women of Canada
Vanessa Reimer

16 When Neoliberalism Intersects with Post-Second Wave Mothering: Reinforcing Neo-traditional American Family Configurations and Exacerbating the Post-Second Wave Crisis in Femininity
Lynn O’Brien Hallstein

17 Deserving Children and “Risky Mothers”: Situating Public Policy and Maternal/Child Welfare in the Canadian Context
Pat Breton

Section IV: Countering Neoliberalism Through Maternal Activism

18 Dancing without Drums: Using Maternalism as a Political Strategy to Critique Neoliberalism in Ibadan, Nigeria
Grace Adeniyi Ogunyankin

19 Maternal Activism in the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal (ICJB), India
Reena Shadaan

20 It’s Not the Meek Who Inherit the Earth: Low-Income Mothers Organize for Economic Justice in Canada
Katheryne Schulz

Epilogue
Jesook Song

List of Contributors

Melinda Vandenbeld Giles is a mother, feminist activist, and PhD candidate in socio-cultural anthropology at the University of Toronto. Her research involves working with mothers who are living with their children in Ontario motel rooms.