Mother-Work: Women, Child Welfare, and the State, 1890-1930Early in the twentieth century, maternal and child welfare evolved from a private family responsibility into a matter of national policy. Women played the central role in this development. In Mother-Work, Molly Ladd-Taylor explores both the private and public aspects of childrearing, using the direct relationship between them to shed new light on the histories of motherhood, the welfare state, and women's activism in the United States. Mother-work, defined as "women's unpaid work of reproduction and caregiving", was the motivation behind women's public activism and "maternalist" ideology. Ladd-Taylor emphasizes the connection between mother-work and social welfare politics by showing that their mothering experiences led women to become active in the development of public health, education, and welfare services. In turn, the advent of these services altered mothering experiences in a number of ways, including by reducing the infant mortality rate. By examining women's activism in organizations including the National Congress of Mothers and Parent-Teacher Associations, the U.S. Children's Bureau, and the National Woman's Party, Ladd-Taylor dispels the notion of "mother-work" as a contradictory term and clarifies women's role in the development of the American economic system. |
Contents
The Work of Mothering | 17 |
MotherWork in the Community | 41 |
When the Birds Have Flown the Nest the MotherWork May Still Go On Sentimental Maternalism and the National Congress of Mothers | 43 |
The Welfare of Mothers and Babies Is a Dignified Subject of Political Discussion Progressive Maternalism and the Childrens Bureau | 74 |
How Cruelly Unjust to Handicap All Women Feminism and the Abandonment of Motherhood Rhetoric | 104 |
Mothers and the State | 133 |
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Abbott activists activities administration African American allowances Amendment American Anglo-American assistance Association authority baby believed bill birth called campaign charity child labor child welfare childrearing Children's Bureau club color concern Conference Congress of Mothers considered cultural death dependence Despite differences discussion economic Equal Rights established example federal female Feminism feminists File funds Gilman Government Printing Office groups History House ideas idem immigrants individual infant mortality interest Journal Lathrop laws leaders letters lives maternal maternalists Maternity and Infancy midwives motherhood movement National Congress nurses organization parents pensions percent political poor professional programs progressive protection raised received reform Report responsibility Sheppard-Towner Sheppard-Towner Act social United University Press wage wanted Washington widows wives woman women workers York
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