Trying to do more with less? Negotiating intensive mothering and financial strain in Canada

Author： Leigh Jeanna Parsons Pacholok Shelley Snape Tara Gauthier Anne H.

E-ISSN： 2046-7435|1|3|361-377

ISSN： 2046-7443

Source： Families, Relationships and Societies, Vol.1, Iss.3, 2012-11, pp. : 361-377

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Abstract

This article explores the ways in which middle-income mothers negotiate the hegemony of intensive mothering when faced with financial strain. We consider how finances are linked to mothers' ability to practise their preferred version of 'good' mothering, and the strategies used to marshal the financial resources necessary to implement this model. We find that much heterogeneity exists in the ways that mothers respond to the discourse of intensive mothering, and that financial resources are linked to how mothers both construct and practise 'good' mothering. For example, in an effort to reconcile tensions between their constructions of 'good' mothering and paid labour, they employ strategies such as remaining the primary caregiver for their children while also working at night, taking on contract work and taking in boarders. This research has specific implications for the ways that middle-income families are functioning in the current neoliberal political and economic climate.