Mothers in transition: Changing gender dynamics in the home through strategic absence

In the sociological and feminist research on motherhood there is consensus that key gender differences in income, employment status, leisure, autonomy as well as time spent in childcare and domestic work take shape and consolidate after ?partners become parents?. I interviewed ten women I call ?revolving mothers? who used situational absence to subvert ? intentionally or not ? the gendered dynamics of childcare, leisure and work in the home. I link the outcomes of this research to a critique and engagement with social and feminist theories of the liberal individual, the social construction of intensive motherhood, articulations of self-identity and changing gender roles in the contemporary west.

PACFA CONFERENCE 2014
Complexity & Connectedness In Life & Love
13-15 June 2014, Sydney, Australia
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