Document

Constructions of good mothering during lockdown learning

Author
Title of Periodical
Gender and Education
Country of Publication
Kingdom of Bahrain
Place Published
Sakhir, Bahrain
Publisher
University of Bahrain
Date Issued
2022
Language
English
English Abstract
ABSTRACT : This paper examines the relationship between school closures during the Covid-19 pandemic and the ideology of intensive mothering through analysis of posts on lockdown learning in an online mothering community. It is argued that although the school closures seemed to constitute an endorsement and normalisation of intensive mothering ideology [Hays (1996). The Cultural Contradictions of Motherhood. New Haven: Yale University Press] by the machinery of government, and increased the pressure upon many women, some mothers resisted these expectations in this online forum. The online community served as a space in which intensive mothering expectations were articulated [Lehner-Mear (2020). “Good Mother, Bad Mother? Maternal Identities and Cyber-Agency in the Primary School Homework Debate.” Gender and Education 33 (3): 285–305] but also offered an arena for cyber-agency, enabling women to express negative emotions, and normalising the rejection of expert constructions of mothering.
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