tag:theconversation.com,2011:/nz/topics/motherhood-893/articlesMotherhood – The Conversation2024-03-26T03:08:35Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2247362024-03-26T03:08:35Z2024-03-26T03:08:35ZSuffragettes resurrected, maternal ambivalence and toxic teens: two Australian novels impress, but one overpromises<p>Earlier this year, I spent a day immersed in the second wave of British feminism at Tate Britain’s <a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/women-in-revolt?gad_source=1">Women In Revolt: Art and Activism in the UK 1970-90</a>. More of an event than an exhibition, the show was brimming with multimedia installations and artworks celebrating 20th-century, grass-roots activism. </p>
<p>I was equally struck by the audience and the exhibition. The gallery was buzzing as multiple generations gathered to learn and reminisce about the creative, politically engaged, socially diverse communities of women who altered British culture 50 years ago. </p>
<p>As their name suggests, second-wave feminists were not the first women to agitate for change. The pioneering work was done by suffragettes (the first-wave feminists), as Melanie Joosten explains in her vibrant new novel, <a href="https://ultimopress.com.au/products/like-fire-hearted-suns">Like Fire-Hearted Suns</a>. </p>
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<p><em>Review: Like Fire-Hearted Suns – Melanie Joosten (Ultimo), Thanks for Having Me – Emma Darragh (Allen & Unwin), Lead Us Not – Abbey Lay (Viking)</em></p>
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<p>Unlike their successors, first-wave feminists were mostly white, wealthy women, and the movement was characterised by structural privilege. But Joosten’s clever choice of protagonists allows her to critique this inherent issue, while detailing the struggles and dreams of the individuals involved. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Women in Revolt celebrates 20th-century, grass-roots activism.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>A suffragette prison story</h2>
<p>A fictionalised account based on historical research, the story begins in 1908 and revolves around two young students, Catherine Dawson and Beatrice Taylor. The third protagonist is prison warden Ida Bennett, who oversees the suffragette inmates of Holloway prison.</p>
<p>Ida, a widow of mixed ancestry with two young boys, is clearly distinct from the well-to-do Catherine and Beatrice. Resentful of the uppity attitudes and frivolous demands of her prisoners, her distress is further complicated by her racist treatment and the traumatic burden of having to force-feed the inmates when they go on hunger strike. But Ida is also a single working parent, unable to raise her own children: she understands the need for change more than most.</p>
<p>Catherine and Beatrice share student digs, similar wealthy backgrounds and a belief in women’s voting rights. They are also fiercely critical of each other’s lobbying styles and contrasting political approaches. </p>
<p>Beatrice is happy to throw bombs and smash windows as a member of the Women’s Social and Political Union, even though this results in repeated arrests and nightmarish spells in Holloway with Ida. </p>
<p>Catherine prefers the pacifist campaigns of the <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/electionsvoting/womenvote/overview/womens-freedom-league/">Women’s Freedom League</a> and sells copies of the League’s own newspaper, The Vote, while petitioning the government. Catherine does not approve of Beatrice’s tactics, and Beatrice deems Catherine’s actions to be ineffective.</p>
<p>Together with Ida’s conflicted attitude, the womens’ mutual irritation and political divide adds personal depth and insight to the historical context of their story. The varied perspectives remind the reader feminism has always been a pluralist discourse. </p>
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<p>With such distinct characters at play, the narrative’s omnipresent point of view works well enough, though the switches from one individual’s interior state to the next can be sudden and jarring, and the intentionally old-fashioned linguistic style is initially awkward to read. But Joosten is a gifted writer who manages to integrate factual detail into an engaging, compelling story with a fascinating cast. Her ability to revitalise such an important chapter of women’s history is a huge achievement. </p>
<p>Brutalised and sexually assaulted by the police and the public, and horribly abused within the penal system during their 25-year campaign to gain the vote (from 1903 to 1928), the suffragettes’ battle was a violent one, often enacted upon their own bodies. </p>
<p>Name-checked in recent years by <a href="https://rebellion.global/">Extinction Rebellion</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_Rush">Climate Rush</a> and <a href="https://juststopoil.org/">Just Stop Oil</a>, they were honoured in 1981 by the women of <a href="https://greenhamwomeneverywhere.co.uk/">Greenham Common</a>, who wore their predessors’ colours of green, purple and white while marching to the Royal Air Force base in Berkshire for their anti-nuclear campaign. </p>
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<span class="caption">In 1981, the women of Greenham Common honoured their predecessors during their anti-nuclear protest.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://greenhamwomeneverywhere.co.uk/portfolio-items/jude-mundens-archive">Jude Munden Visual Archive</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
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<p>Nevertheless, the suffragettes have been largely consigned to the history books, where their stories have been misrepresented and misunderstood. Joosten’s novel reasserts their right to be heard on a wider scale. </p>
<p>Like Women In Revolt’s tribute to the Greenham women at the Tate, it’s a worthy commemoration of a conflict that should never be forgotten.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-are-the-four-waves-of-feminism-and-what-comes-next-224153">What are the four waves of feminism? And what comes next?</a>
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<h2>Maternal ambivalence</h2>
<p>A very different tale of 20th-century women comes from Emma Darragh in her debut novel, <a href="https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/book/Emma-Darragh-Thanks-for-Having-Me-9781761471018">Thanks for Having Me</a>, the first fiction release of <a href="https://www.joanpress.com/">Joan Press</a>, the new Allen and Unwin imprint under the curatorship of Gamillaroi and Torres Strait Islander actor, writer and producer (now publisher) <a href="https://harpersbazaar.com.au/nakkiah-lui-digital-cover-story/">Nakkiah Lui</a>. </p>
<p>Confronting, poignant and tender, the novel highlights some uncomfortable truths about the bonds of love and conventional family systems, within a mosaic of beautifully crafted stories that turn the spotlight on maternal ambivalence. </p>
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<p>Refusing a straightforward chronological sequence, these tales of transgenerational trauma unfold around each other organically, hanging together in a loose but discernible pattern. Fraught and fragile mother–daughter bonds are juxtaposed with toxic sibling rivalries and unfulfilling marriages. Lost ambitions are weighed against the disappointing realities of family life and unfulfilling relationships. Yet somehow, love is never quite absent from the picture. </p>
<p>Mary Anne, her mental health in the balance, walks out on her husband and teenage daughters, retreating to the seat of familial dysfunction that is her parents’ house. </p>
<p>Nursing a hot, maternal wound, Vivian is volatile and unstable but settles down with a caretaking husband, only to leave her own child, Evie, when life gets too beige to bear. </p>
<p>Little Evie, born around the millennium and named after her late great aunt, is left at home with her dad and her broken, child-sized heart. Caught in the crossfire, Vivian’s love leaves enough of a trace to sustain her. Over the years, she shifts into a touchingly maternal role with her motherless mother, who has never quite grown up.</p>
<p>Written with varying degrees of grit and empathy, Mary Anne and Vivian make ill-judged decisions and create terrible predicaments for themselves and those around them. They grasp at love, security, acceptance, and try their best to make things better – to <em>do</em> things better. This saves the novel from becoming bleak, despite the pervading sense of hopelessness.</p>
<p>An assured debut ringing with empathy, Thanks for Having Me critiques the flawed institution of motherhood by showing its impact on maternal experience. </p>
<p>With nonfiction publications like <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/jun/29/matrescence-by-lucy-jones-review-the-birth-of-a-mother">Lucy Jones’ Matrescence</a> now addressing maternal ambivalence and the challenges of parenting from the perspective of science as well as culture, second-wave feminists like psychotherapist <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2006/oct/28/familyandrelationships.family2">Roszika Parker</a> and poet and essayist <a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/of-woman-born-by-adrienne-rich-3528976">Adrienne Rich</a> are being reappraised. </p>
<p>Projects like the <a href="https://www.mothernet.eu/about/">MotherNet</a> collaboration between universities in Vilnius, Uppsala and Maynooth are funding research into a range of fields that converge on maternal experience, which doesn’t necessitate having a child. Conversations are changing, and Darragh’s novel is a valuable contribution.</p>
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<em>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ive-had-enough-of-sad-bad-girl-novels-and-sensationalised-trauma-but-im-hungry-for-complex-stories-about-women-213901">I've had enough of Sad Bad Girl novels and sensationalised trauma – but I'm hungry for complex stories about women</a>
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<h2>Teen girls and toxic friendship</h2>
<p>Thanks For Having Me is not just about family though. Friendships play a part here too, with their capacity to soothe or exacerbate familial harm. Joosten also acknowledges the importance of friendship within the testing conditions of political divide. And in her debut novel, <a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/lead-us-not-9781761340680">Lead Us Not</a>, Abbey Lay makes friendship the whole story. </p>
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<p>Toxic teenage dynamics have become something of a trope in recent years, and for good reason. With the complexity of adolescence now troubled by the rapid ascent of social media, and the added confusion of online networking, there is much to explore. But while Lay’s subject matter holds currency, especially with the added questions of sexual exploration, her story lacks intrigue and ultimately fails to convince. </p>
<p>The premise is familiar enough. Millie, an insecure teenage girl develops a fascination with the more beautiful, more sexually experienced Olive, who moves in next door. Both are in their final year at the same Catholic girls’ high school, though their paths have never previously crossed. </p>
<p>Olive quickly establishes herself with the upper hand in the relationship, while the fixated Millie does her new friend’s bidding, happily dumping her old one, Jess, in the process. Boys are present but peripheral, serving as fodder for the girls’ intimate discussions. To this end, Olive instructs Millie to lose her virginity with the painfully awkward Leon, while divulging the details of her own sex life with handsome tennis player, Hunter. </p>
<p>There is nothing surprising in any of this. Teenage girls are renowned for their intense, romantic, often cruel, sometimes transgressive friendships. The merging of identities and unequal power dynamics are virtually a high-school rite of passage. After all, TV shows like <a href="https://www.paramountplus.com/au/shows/yellowjackets/">Yellowjackets</a>, in which teen-girl rivalry escalates into lifelong trauma following a plane crash in the wilderness, were not born into a void. </p>
<p>There is nothing wrong with this story arc either – and Lay’s prose is elegant and well crafted. She carefully avoids extreme drama, while raising interesting questions about the authenticity of friendship. But while she builds tension with skill, the plot is too pedestrian and the characters are not compelling or mature enough to match the level of suspense she spins.</p>
<p>Olive and Millie, supposedly in year 12, behave more like year 9 or 10 students, setting out on relatively innocent social and sexual adventures with high-blown attitudes. However, their emotional concerns and conversations are too young for their age. </p>
<p>Next to <a href="https://theconversation.com/girlhood-misery-bullying-and-beauty-combine-for-laura-elizabeth-woolletts-unlikeable-west-coast-girls-211427">Laura Elizabeth Woollett’s West Girls</a>, with its complex twists of social, cultural and ethnic hierachies, their white middle-class preoccupations appear simplistic and anodyne. </p>
<p>There is a distinct uniformity to Olive and Millie’s world. All their friends are from conservative backgrounds, with good-enough families and comfortable homes. The Catholic girls consort with the boys from St Marks as if in a preordained bubble. Nobody deviates or dissents, which makes Millie’s obsession with Olive all the more curious, because apart from a touch of drama-school charisma, Olive is no different to the rest.</p>
<p>When the girls explore the boundaries of their friendship during a school camping trip, there is potential for something to develop. But the tentative steps they take towards each other are barely discernible, and the emotional landscape remains under-explored. </p>
<p>After the trip, a communication failure brings the unhealthy dynamic to a head. Olive retreats, leaving Millie upset and confused. Millie, an intelligent, sensitive girl on the verge of womanhood, inexplicably fails to understand why Olive has withdrawn from her. The narrative presents this emotional temperature change as a pivotal mystery for both Millie and the reader, but it’s too much of a stretch: there is no mystery. The reasons for Olive’s vanishing act are all too plain.</p>
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<span class="caption">Abbey Lay is ‘hopefully on the edge of a promising career’.</span>
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<p>Overall, Lay’s novel would be better suited for the young adult (YA) market. The book’s attempt to interrogate themes of control, vulnerability, trust and honesty within a toxic dynamic is worthwhile, but the level at which these topics are addressed is too naive to satisfy an adult, or even an older YA readership. </p>
<p>A poised and assured writer, Lay is hopefully on the edge of a promising career, but her use of subtlety and restraint needs to be balanced with greater depth and scope. And her characters are in danger of sleepwalking into the future. By contrast, the women and girls of Like Fire-Hearted Suns and Thanks For Having Me understand the need to fight. </p>
<p>If I could, I’d pitch the Catholic girls into the thick of a suffragette rally with Beatrice, or get Evie to sneak them some vodka at a party while Vivian flirts her arse off. Then I’d transport them to the Tate and the epicentre of Women In Revolt, where <a href="https://www.euronews.com/culture/2023/11/15/women-in-revolt-british-feminist-art-from-the-1970s-and-1980s-takes-over-tate-britain">Gina Birch’s Three Minute Scream</a> echoes through the galleries. </p>
<p>Finally, I’d guide them through all the feminist diversity of that whole heartstopping show, in the hope of enriching their perspectives and expanding their vision. </p>
<p>And then I’d let go of their hands.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/224736/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Liz Evans' debut novel, Catherine Wheel, is to be published by Ultimo Press in August 2024.</span></em></p>A novel about first-wave feminists cleverly critiques the movement’s privilege. The first fiction from Nakkiah Lui’s imprint highlights uncomfortable truths. And a debut about teen girls is ‘too naive’.Liz Evans, Writer, author, journalist, Associate Lecturer in English & Writing, University of TasmaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2260362024-03-20T15:56:09Z2024-03-20T15:56:09ZMumpreneurs: a growing entrepreneurial force in Chinese society<p>While much ink has been poured over China’s economic growth in recent decades, the contributions of Chinese women often receive less attention. With the pressure of the <a href="https://www.ined.fr/en/publications/editions/population-and-societies/china-s-new-three-child-policy-what-effects-can-we-expect/">“three-child policy”</a>, being a mother isn’t a mere personal choice, it’s a part of national demographic strategy. To navigate their lives, many Chinese mothers are now turning to what has been referred to as “mumpreneurship”. A January 2024 search for “妈妈创业” (the term in Chinese) showed 69.9 million results on Baidu, China’s primary search engine, compared to just 2.6 million English results on Google.</p>
<p>The term <em>mompreneur</em> was coined in 1996 by Patricia Cobe and Ellen Parlapiano, two entrepreneurs who caught global attention with a <a href="http://www.mompreneursonline.com/">website</a> and <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/624570.Patricia_Cobe">books</a> on the theme. Unlike <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0016718510001284">female entrepreneurs</a>, mumpreneurs are motivated to achieve work-life harmony by merging the identities of <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0266242611435182">motherhood and business ownership</a>. It’s typical to observe the boundaries of two roles blurring.</p>
<p><a href="https://journals.openedition.org/travailemploi/10041/">Prior research</a> indicates that the mumpreneurs movement has its roots in the United States in the 1990s, and that it saw further growth in France in the 2000s, as the Internet gained strength. The researchers defined it as a “feminised form of non-salaried work, in which independence is considered the ideal way to combine work and family.”</p>
<h2>Mumpreneurship in China</h2>
<p>Our ongoing research focuses on mumpreneurs in Chinese urban areas. We find that most are between the ages of 31 and 45, resourceful, educated and digitally savvy. Chinese women’s age at first birth is getting older, <a href="https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202302/1285983.shtml">30.36 in Shanghai in 2022</a>. According to a <a href="https://www.199it.com/archives/1418770.html">2022 Chinese Female Entrepreneurs Research Report</a>, women start their businesses at a young age, 36% before 30, 50% between 31 to 40.</p>
<p>Covid-19 has played a key role in driving the growth of mumpreneurship. Many parents are stepping back from the corporate life due to the economic downturn in China. Mumpreneurs are most commonly found in urban regions such as Beijing, Shanghai and Great Bay area, notably Shenzhen, where robust support networks and resources exist. Preferred sectors are children’s education and social services, HR consulting, psychotherapy consulting, and beauty-related industries. Businesses typically have small teams of no more than 10. Many of their leaders actively engage and enjoy the popularity on social media like TikTok and Xiaohongshu. One of our interviewees, DanDan, has pioneered a <a href="http://xhslink.com/ARVTnC">“divorced companion mumpreneurial business model”</a> (离婚搭子创业 in Chinese) in education and social-media marketing services that has received significant attention. She and her business partner have recently been invited to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vb7MlUvMNhs"><em>Super Diva</em></a>, a show spotlighting Chinese mothers from diverse backgrounds.</p>
<p>Contrary to the promise of work-life balance, Chinese mumpreneurs are driven and <a href="https://new.qq.com/rain/a/20231205A054G400">relentlessly self-improving</a> and are often sleep-deprived. Support can come from a range of source, including their partner, parents, paid services such as nannies, cleaners and drivers, and sometimes company employees. Office and family space are frequently within walking distance or even overlapping.</p>
<p>As in other Asian countries, K–12 education in China is highly competitive. Chinese mothers are often perceived to face triple expectation from the society, family, and themselves, while Chinese fathers can have more leniency. Our study reveals that when it comes to education, some Chinese mumpreneurs disagree with both 鸡娃 (Ji Wa) <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/09/06/1024804523/forget-tiger-moms-now-chinas-chicken-blood-parents-are-pushing-kids-to-succeed">Chicken Blood parenting</a> and traditional laissez-faire motherhood. Instead, they believe in a spiritual maternal role, working to strengthen the emotional and personal construction of their children. Annie, a mumpreneur who works in human resources, remarked:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“I disagree with cramming, stressful, and result-oriented education. It’s essential for me to nurture my son’s capacity for happiness. It pains me to witness the prevalence of depression among Chinese children.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>While mumpreneurs value motherhood, for them it doesn’t consistently rank as the top priority. Instead, there’s unanimous agreement on the importance of prioritising the “me” as an individual, encompassing financial, physical, and mental self-care. Additionally, there’s a recurring theme indicating that a woman’s awakening process is influenced by her education and the duration of her marriage. As for the role of “wife”, it’s often optional, and many mumpreneurs are single, divorced or cohabiting with partners to whom they are not married.</p>
<h2>A social movement</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www-annualreviews-org.em-lyon.idm.oclc.org/doi/full/10.1146/annurev-polisci-052615-025801">rise of a social movement</a> is primarily facilitated by three key factors: more chances to influence politics, support networks, and shaping public opinion through messages. In China, the government has been making a strategic push to compensate for the country’s <a href="https://chinapower.csis.org/china-demographics-challenges/">demographic challenges</a>, which will become increasingly acute in the coming years. The country’s “one-child policy” was established in 1980, and it took more than a quarter-century to transit to the “two-child policy”, enacted in 2016. Less than five years later, the “three-child policy” came into force in 2021.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">“China pushes three-child policy” (NBC News).</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The increasing female power in China is another catalyst for the mumpreneurship movement. Since 1949, there has been remarkable progress in the economic, educational, and health status of Chinese women. The changing social perceptions could be sensed in the language used to describe them, from 大婶 (Aunty) to 爷 (Ye) meaning lord or master, and 女王 (Nu Wang) meaning queen. Women are being progressively liberated from the expectation of a life centred on supporting her family, children, and husband. Women in China are embracing more diverse values and contributing to a more inclusive society.</p>
<p>The support ecosystem for mumpreneurs has matured. These include the <a href="http://mqcy.cwdf.org.cn/">“@SHE Entrepreneur Plan”</a>, which is operated by the China Women’s Development Foundation. It has grown increasingly influential over the last 28 years and now covers more than 20 provinces. At the grassroots level, <a href="https://www.huxiu.com/article/37107.html">mumpreneur communities</a> are spreading with the help of social media. Interesting examples include Lamabang.net.com, Babytree.com (a sort of Facebook for parents and kids), ci123.com and 研究生 Yan Jiu Sheng (which highlights research on pregnancy).</p>
<p>Given their presence, our study mainly focuses on the mumpreneurs in urban areas. Given that the country’s spatial disparity, future research could explore mumpreneurship in rural areas. This may reveal differences in entrepreneurial motivation, motherhood definition, social capital and social networking.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Special thanks to Chen Liu (DBA candidate from Durham University and EM Lyon Business School) and Hanrui Liu (MSc in international marketing and business development, EM Lyon Business School) for their contributions to the ongoing research project.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/226036/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lisa Xiong ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>With the pressure of China’s “three-child policy”, many women are motivated to achieve work-life harmony by merging the identities of motherhood and business ownership.Lisa Xiong, Associate Professor in Strategy & Organization, EM Lyon Business SchoolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2202072024-02-06T21:56:31Z2024-02-06T21:56:31ZThe motherhood pay gap: Why women’s earnings decline after having children<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572551/original/file-20240131-19-fg2aeg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=760%2C416%2C7407%2C5003&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The birth of children results in large earnings losses that are not equally distributed within heterosexual couples.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Inequalities between men and women persist in many areas, with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1787/4ead40c7-en">women still earning less than men on average</a>. An even more striking difference is the “motherhood pay gap” that happens when women have children. Also known as the “family gap” or <a href="https://doi.org/10.1257/app.20180010">child penalties</a>, women’s earnings plummet after the birth of a child, while men’s barely budge.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.12.1.137">Many studies</a> have investigated the causes of gender inequalities and concluded that women have been unable to catch up to the earnings level of men in part <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/684851">because of parenting responsibilities</a>. </p>
<p>Why does this happen? Children have a negative effect on women’s productivity in the labour market by substantially reducing their <a href="https://www.britannica.com/money/human-capital">human capital</a>, which translates into a significant <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/260293">decrease in their earnings</a>. </p>
<p>After the birth of children, mothers tend to turn towards part-time jobs, roles with flexible working hours or positions that offer work conditions more favourable to family life — all of which tend to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/cje/23.5.543">pay lower wages</a>.</p>
<p>Employers, in return, may see part-time employees as less committed and productive, especially when relying on <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/heuristics">heuristics</a> — mental shortcuts for solving problems — to judge worker quality, as opposed to actual information about their performance. This can result in <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2911397">fewer bonuses and promotions</a> for these employees. </p>
<h2>The effects of parenthood</h2>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1257/app.20180010">Evidence from Denmark</a>, one of the most egalitarian countries in the world, points to a long-term child penalty of around 20 per cent in earnings. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.3138/cpp.2023-015">Our research</a> reveals a similar situation in Canada. We used data from Statistics Canada’s Longitudinal and International Study of Adults coupled with historical administrative records from 1982 to 2018. </p>
<p>We compared what happened to men’s and women’s earnings after the birth of their first child for Canadians who had their first child between 1987 and 2009. Using an event study methodology, we followed individuals’ employment income over a period of five years before the birth of the child to 10 years after.</p>
<p>We observed large and persistent negative effects of parenthood for mothers, but not fathers. Mothers’ earnings decrease by 49 per cent the year of birth, with a penalty of 34.3 per cent 10 years after. Fathers’ earnings appear largely unaffected.</p>
<h2>Unequal effects of children</h2>
<p>The birth of children results in large earnings losses that are not equally distributed within heterosexual couples. Fathers stay on the same earnings track, while women experience penalties that persist over the years. This is especially true for <a href="https://doi.org/10.3138/cpp.2023-015">mothers of multiple children or those with a lower education level</a>. </p>
<p>This impoverishment triggered by the birth of a child can have significant economic impacts <a href="https://espace.inrs.ca/id/eprint/13576">should the couple separate</a>. In Canada, nearly <a href="https://doi.org/10.25318/3910005101-eng">one-third of marriages</a> end in divorce. </p>
<p>Women are typically <a href="https://doi.org/10.4054/DemRes.2016.35.50">financially disadvantaged</a> following a separation. This disadvantage may be attributable to pre-separation factors, such as the unequal division of labour during the marriage and lower earnings for women, but also to women’s prolonged absences from the labour force due to family responsibilities.</p>
<h2>Equal pay for equal work</h2>
<p>In this context, it’s crucial to ask ourselves if there are measures that could eliminate, or at least reduce, the economic impact associated with family responsibilities on mothers’ earnings and employment. </p>
<p>We investigated the role of family policies, since they were in part designed to encourage maternal employment and promote more equal sharing of parenting responsibilities between partners. </p>
<p>Specifically, we focused on the extension of parental leaves in Canada and the introduction of <a href="https://www.mfa.gouv.qc.ca/en/services-de-garde/programme-contribution-reduite/Pages/index.aspx">reduced contribution child-care services for families in Québec</a>. We found suggestive evidence that these policies can help reduce child penalties. </p>
<p>“Equal pay for equal work” policies, such as the federal government’s <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/services/jobs/workplace/human-rights/overview-pay-equity-act.html">Pay Equity Act</a>, also have the potential to make a substantial difference. These policies can raise the fairness and attractiveness of the labour market for women and reduce the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1257/jel.20160995">potentially negative impact of experience-based pay</a> for mothers. </p>
<h2>More benefits down the line</h2>
<p>In addition to having a positive effect on the economic situation of women, encouraging employment for mothers could help eliminate the stigma around the division of labour within couples by exposing children to a more symmetrical model of remunerated and unpaid work. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0950017018760167">recent study</a> using data from 29 countries showed that employed mothers were more likely to transmit egalitarian values to their children both at work and at home. Girls with employed mothers ended up working more themselves: they worked more hours, were better paid and held supervisory positions more often than girls with stay-at-home mothers. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A toddler sits on the lap of a women, presumably her mother, in front of a desk. She is smiling and touching a laptop while her mother smiles down at her." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573140/original/file-20240202-17-6ybyzo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573140/original/file-20240202-17-6ybyzo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573140/original/file-20240202-17-6ybyzo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573140/original/file-20240202-17-6ybyzo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573140/original/file-20240202-17-6ybyzo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573140/original/file-20240202-17-6ybyzo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573140/original/file-20240202-17-6ybyzo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Employed mothers are more likely to transmit egalitarian values to their children both at work and at home.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The result was not observed in boys. However, boys who grew up with employed mothers were more involved in family and domestic responsibilities as adults than men whose mothers were not in the labour market. The girls also spent less time doing household chores. </p>
<p>Working mothers appear to have an intergenerational impact favouring gender equality, both within the family and in the labour market.</p>
<p>We all know raising children is time-consuming. Children, of course, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/675070">benefit from this parental time investment</a>. But bringing up children is also costly. Our research quantified one kind of cost: the lower earnings trajectory. Knowing how these costs are shared among the two parents is key to enable better decision making, for policymakers, but ultimately, for parents, future parents and their children.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220207/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marie Connolly received funding from the Fonds de recherche du Québec - Société et culture and CIRANO. The analysis in this article was conducted at the Quebec Inter-university Centre for Social Statistics, which is supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Canada Foundation for Innovation, Statistics Canada, the Fonds de recherche du Québec - Société et culture, the Fonds de recherche du Québec - Santé and Québec universities.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Catherine Haeck received funding from the Fonds de recherche du Québec - Société et culture and CIRANO. The analysis in this article was conducted at the Quebec Inter-university Centre for Social Statistics, which is supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Canada Foundation for Innovation, Statistics Canada, the Fonds de recherche du Québec - Société et culture, the Fonds de recherche du Québec - Santé and Québec universities.</span></em></p>New research shows that women’s earnings are negatively impacted by having children, while men’s aren’t. The effects can be long-lasting and contribute to the gender pay gap.Marie Connolly, Professor of Economics, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)Catherine Haeck, Full Professor, Economics Department, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2222992024-02-02T16:25:32Z2024-02-02T16:25:32ZCompleted Dry January? Reading fiction can help newly sober mothers decide what’s next<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572156/original/file-20240130-27-fh57zq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=88%2C35%2C5841%2C3920&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/european-girl-reading-book-drinking-tea-2124750215">WellStock/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>More people in the UK have gone dry this January <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-68019470">than ever before</a>, so drinking, not drinking, and navigating a course between the two, is on many of our minds.</p>
<p>Many of those people <a href="https://alcoholstudies.rutgers.edu/women-increase-drinking-during-pandemic/#:%7E:text=Recent%20data%20show%20the%20pandemic,overall%20population%20increase%20of%2014%25.">are mothers</a>. The pandemic saw an unprecedented <a href="https://www.channel4.com/news/the-frontline-of-britains-lockdown-drink-problem-as-alcohol-deaths-soar">escalation in domestic drinking</a>. With the arrival of high-speed home delivery companies, alcohol became more readily and rapidly available than ever before. For many women juggling not just work and childcare but also homeschooling, alcohol may have seemed to offer a coping mechanism, a way to survive <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/jan/15/smoking-weed-motherhood-son-child-habit">“the grind of motherhood”</a>.</p>
<p>If you’ve been participating in Dry January, you may be feeling relieved, proud or anxious now that the month has come to an end. If you are wondering what to do next, there are blogs, podcasts, memoirs and self-help books on hand to offer advice. But other books can also help. Fiction offers precious – sobering – insights into the impact of alcohol in the lives of women and children.</p>
<p>Two works in particular stand out. Doug Stuart’s Booker Prize winner, <a href="https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/douglas-stuart/shuggie-bain/9781529019292">Shuggie Bain</a> (2020), and the short stories of American writer <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-story-is-the-thing-on-lucia-berlin">Lucia Berlin</a> provide visceral, insider portrayals of the devastating effect of life with and – occasionally, blissfully without – drink for mothers and their children. </p>
<h2>How fiction can help</h2>
<p>What exactly do these works of fiction offer that you might not find elsewhere? Set against intimate domestic backdrops, they provide unflinching accounts of drinking as a woman and mother and where extreme addiction can take you. </p>
<p>One example comes from Lucia Berlin’s short story, Unmanageable, from the collection A Manual for Cleaning Women (2015). On waking – hyperventilating – during the night, the unnamed protagonist sets out on an unnerving trip to a liquor store to get the drink which will enable her to function. </p>
<p>She succeeds, returns home, and sets about making her children their breakfast and washing their school clothes. She is trying to hold it together and paper over the cracks and she very nearly succeeds – but the socks for her sons aren’t dry in time. </p>
<p>Unmanageable offers a glimpse of the experiences of children of alcoholics, as well as their parents. The protagonist’s sons take her bag and car keys in an effort to protect her, but are unsuccessful and must go to school sockless. </p>
<p>In Shuggie Bain, one of the things that Stuart does so brilliantly is combine and move between the experiences of the beautiful, wasted – in all senses – Agnes and her youngest son, the eponymous Shuggie. Over several hundred pages of often excruciatingly painful prose, he shows both how and why Agnes drinks and the impact of addiction on the lives of her children. This includes the astonishing range of strategies they undertake to keep her safe. </p>
<p>In Berlin’s stories it becomes clear that the same mother who heads out to the liquor store in the dead of night had also experienced the effects of drinking on her own mother and other family members when she herself was a child. Threading the stories together, the generational legacies become painfully clear.</p>
<h2>An offer of hope</h2>
<p>Neither work pulls any punches. Shuggie’s strategies are all ultimately futile. But these characters aren’t all doomed. Stuart <a href="https://news.stv.tv/entertainment/shuggie-bain-author-douglas-stuart-says-writing-booker-prize-winning-novel-called-him-home#:%7E:text=Stuart%20insists%20that%20Shuggie%20Bain,addiction%20when%20he%20was%2016.">has acknowledged</a> that aspects and characters in the book reflect his own childhood. His ability to write Shuggie’s experiences at all – as well as his successful career working in fashion in the US – suggests there is a way through. Lives can be turned around, relationships saved. </p>
<p>In another short story, So Long, Berlin describes a mundane, relaxed breakfast with her adult son: “The same son I used to steal from, who told me I wasn’t his mother.” They read the papers, chat about sport and politics, then he kisses her goodbye. “All over the world mothers are having breakfast with their sons, seeing them off at the door,” she writes. “Can they know the gratitude I felt, standing there, waving? The reprieve.”</p>
<p>One of the key insights of these works for those wondering about their own next steps is the extraordinary and often contradictory pressure exerted by what other people think. </p>
<p>Perhaps the most heartbreaking scene in Shuggie Bain occurs at a golf club restaurant where Agnes’s new partner badgers and seduces her until she finally capitulates “because it’s what normal people do”. His inability to accept her as, at that point, a 12-months sober alcoholic, and her fear of what other people think, is something Agnes never comes back from.</p>
<p>As this scene plays out, we feel with and for her: stiffening when wine is ordered, overwhelmed with tiredness and fear just before finally giving in. These aren’t works which point the finger, but which offer insights and understanding, tenderness and compassion. </p>
<h2>No perfect fix</h2>
<p>As the books themselves make clear, fiction doesn’t always work or help. Shuggie’s attempts to entertain Agnes by reading to her from Roald Dahl’s Danny the Champion of the World don’t keep her sober. But for the Lucia Berlin character in Unmanageable, literature literally saves her life:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“She was shaking too hard to stand. She lay on the floor breathing deep yoga breaths. Don’t think, God don’t think about the state you’re in or you will die, of shame, a stroke. Her breath slowed down. She started to read the titles of books in the bookcase. Concentrate, read them out loud. Edward Abbey, Chinua Achebe, Sherwood Anderson, Jane Austen, Paul Auster, don’t skip, slow down. By the time she had read the whole wall of books she was better.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Ultimately then, as those who have participated in Dry January decide what comes next, looking to the world of fiction has the potential to do a lot more good than dwelling on what other people think. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kiera Vaclavik does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Fiction offers precious and sobering insights into the impact of alcohol in the lives of women and children.Kiera Vaclavik, Professor of Children's Literature & Childhood Culture, Queen Mary University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1969922024-01-10T16:35:56Z2024-01-10T16:35:56ZMothers are more likely to work worse jobs – while fathers thrive in careers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568275/original/file-20240108-19-28ulqe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C8%2C4455%2C3736&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/attractive-stressed-woman-wearing-uniform-apron-2192701493">Lysenko Andrii/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Having a child is bad for a woman’s earnings. This is not only in the immediate period after the birth, but <a href="https://www.nber.org/papers/w30323">across her lifetime</a> – as shown in research by recent economics Nobel prize-winner <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/kimelsesser/2023/10/09/claudia-goldin-wins-nobel-prize-in-economics-for-studying-women-at-work/">Claudia Goldin</a>. </p>
<p>On the other hand, men who become fathers are <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jasp.12728?casa_token=y_5aRC7DsF8AAAAA:8BRx_eVDy9Zf0t6RUPMvCGkKA7G0q7yxlkLrGyQGdgDuHD9FvOPtaGF-6SAbHehhoBq7SdXAO9YP84w">perceived as</a> self-reliant and decisive. And they are often rewarded at work <a href="https://read.dukeupress.edu/demography/article/58/1/247/167586/Motherhood-Penalties-and-Fatherhood-Premiums">with opportunities and pay</a>. </p>
<p>Campaigns by groups like <a href="https://pregnantthenscrewed.com/">Pregnant Then Screwed</a> make explicit that, in the UK, this “motherhood penalty” extends to pregnancy discrimination, the extortionate costs of childcare and ineffective flexible working policies. Yet we still know little about how it extends to job quality. </p>
<p>Together with colleagues, I have <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11205-023-03214-6">carried out research</a> to explore this “motherhood penalty” further. Using data from 15,877 employees from the UK Household Longitudinal Survey, we investigated the kinds of jobs women with children do, and how this compares with fathers and women without children. </p>
<h2>Poor-quality jobs</h2>
<p>We looked in particular at job quality, covering factors like training opportunities, promotion prospects, control over day to day tasks, benefits, working hours and work-life balance. Poor-quality jobs, such as those characterised by high demands, low control and limited flexibility, are known to be <a href="https://academic.oup.com/ije/article/47/1/47/4079898?login=false">damaging for wellbeing</a>. They are particularly concerning when it comes to working parents, due to the <a href="https://www.charterworks.com/work-matters-maureen-perry-jenkins/">likely spillover effects on children</a>. </p>
<p>We found a clearcut motherhood penalty. Mothers are under-represented in high-quality jobs – those with attributes including good work-life balance, control over working hours and control over job tasks.</p>
<p>Mothers of school-age children, in particular, are more likely to work in poor-quality jobs. They are less likely to have high-quality jobs, compared both to their male counterparts and to women without children. </p>
<p>What’s more, our models controlled for the sector and occupation people worked in. This suggests that women with children suffer a penalty even when compared to other people in similar jobs.</p>
<p>Our findings also show that the trade-offs made by mothers and fathers in their employment situations – on things like pay, career opportunities and flexibility – are rather different. </p>
<p>We found that mothers were also much more likely to have jobs that scored poorly on access to training and prospects, yet had high levels of control over the nature and timing of their work. These jobs were often part-time. This is especially the case among mothers of children attending primary school. Almost a third hold jobs like this.</p>
<h2>Trading promotion for flexibility?</h2>
<p>It might be possible to look at these results and think that mothers have “chosen” to sacrifice rewards and prospects in favour of working around their children’s needs – while dads choose to prioritise breadwinning even if it means less time with their kids. Indeed, the jobs most associated with fatherhood are characterised by long working hours combined with good opportunities for progression. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Woman walking home from school with child" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568277/original/file-20240108-21-k1a6fo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568277/original/file-20240108-21-k1a6fo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568277/original/file-20240108-21-k1a6fo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568277/original/file-20240108-21-k1a6fo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568277/original/file-20240108-21-k1a6fo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568277/original/file-20240108-21-k1a6fo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568277/original/file-20240108-21-k1a6fo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mothers may be trading career advancement for flexibility.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/mother-daughter-cross-road-after-school-2136660447">Kirkam/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But these trade-offs are not inevitable. They are also <a href="https://www.kcl.ac.uk/giwl/assets/working-parents-flexibility-and-job-quality-what-are-the-trade-offs.pdf">not desired by all parents</a>.</p>
<p>As we found in <a href="https://www.kcl.ac.uk/giwl/assets/working-parents-flexibility-and-job-quality-what-are-the-trade-offs.pdf">earlier research</a>, mothers can feel their contracted part-time hours block them from desired career progression. Part-time hours may not even help them find balance if they face a workload better suited to full-time hours, <a href="https://policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/the-flexibility-paradox">potentially leading to overwork</a> for little gain.</p>
<p>What’s more, our research shows that mothers may not be trading career progression for flexibility. The poor-quality jobs primarily filled by mothers offer very little in the way of either flexibility or career progression. This means many mothers actually have worse access to flexibility than women without children.</p>
<p>The motherhood penalty in job quality, in all its guises, combined with pressures such as the high cost of childcare and partners’ long hours, may well contribute to stress and burnout among working mothers. Employers have an important role to play in tackling this by promoting gender equality in the holistic experience of work, in addition to addressing pay equality.</p>
<p>But while <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/hollycorbett/2022/09/30/how-to-support-mothers-in-the-workplace-and-why-its-good-for-business/?sh=6f0b2dae2093">supporting the wellbeing</a> of working parents is important, more concrete actions like openly making key promotions available to part-timers and genuine commitments to effective flexible working are also needed. </p>
<p>Strategies like these would not only signify employers’ commitment to freeing parents from outdated roles, but also help them retain a vast talent pool. Both employers and governments need to wake up to the stark disadvantages faced by working mothers in accessing meaningful and fair employment, and start taking the motherhood penalty seriously.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/196992/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rose Cook receives funding from The Nuffield Foundation, but the views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily the Foundation. Website: <a href="http://www.nuffieldfoundation.org">www.nuffieldfoundation.org</a> Twitter: @NuffieldFound</span></em></p>Mothers are more likely to work poor quality jobs, with limited control over their work and flexibility.Rose Cook, Senior Research Fellow, Global Institute for Women's Leadership, King's College LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2207612024-01-10T13:30:13Z2024-01-10T13:30:13ZPope Francis called surrogacy ‘deplorable’ – but the reasons why women and parents choose surrogacy are complex and defy simple labels<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568467/original/file-20240109-17-1nw9j8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=137%2C31%2C6938%2C4678&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Pope Francis baptizes 16 infants in the Sistine Chapel on Jan. 7, 2024, in Vatican City.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/pope-francis-baptises-16-infants-in-the-sistine-chapel-on-news-photo/1914446578?adppopup=true">Vatican Media via Vatican Pool/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Pope Francis made headlines on Jan. 8, 2024, when he called for a global surrogacy ban, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/08/world/europe/pope-francis-surrogacy-ban.html">stating</a>, “I deem deplorable the practice of so-called surrogate motherhood, which represents a grave violation of the dignity of the woman and the child, based on the exploitation of situations of the mother’s material needs.”</p>
<p>The use of surrogacy, in which a woman carries and delivers a child for someone else, has grown exponentially in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fertnstert.2016.03.050">recent years</a> and is expected to <a href="https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/surrogacy-market">continue to do so</a>. While headlines often surface when celebrities like <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/style/paris-hilton-on-why-she-chose-surrogacy-for-her-children">Paris Hilton</a> grow their family using the technology, it also gets attention on the rare occasion a surrogate <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1356176/Surrogate-mother-wins-case-baby-giving-birth.html">refuses to relinquish the child they carried</a>, or when <a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-red-market-scott-carney?variant=32123686453282">surrogates experience exploitation</a>.</p>
<p>Such human rights violations appear to be the reason that Francis condemned the practice. But in so doing, I argue, the pope is failing to recognize how varied and nuanced the experiences of intended parents, surrogates and children are.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.baylorpress.com/9781481310567/conceiving-family/">I have researched surrogacy</a> <a href="https://candler.emory.edu/faculty-profiles/danielle-tumminio-hansen/">for over a decade</a> and have learned many things: Some women indeed become surrogates out of desperation and <a href="https://cup.columbia.edu/book/wombs-in-labor/9780231169905">are abused in the process</a>, as the pope says. But others, like the Christian ethicist <a href="https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=31699">Grace Kao</a>, are thriving professionals who make the choice for altruistic reasons and never accept remuneration.</p>
<p>The complex reasons why women become surrogates and why parents choose to create families in this way <a href="https://oneill.law.georgetown.edu/a-lack-of-consensus-around-surrogacy-regulation-at-the-national-level/">make it nearly impossible</a> to issue a universal conclusion about it. Instead, like many technologies, surrogacy’s ethical value is dependent upon the people and systems who use it. </p>
<h2>Catholicism and surrogacy</h2>
<p>While the pope framed his condemnation of surrogacy as a human rights abuse, the Catholic tradition has <a href="https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19870222_respect-for-human-life_en.html">consistently opposed</a> <a href="https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20081208_dignitas-personae_en.html">surrogacy, in vitro fertilization</a> and <a href="https://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/human-life-and-dignity/abortion/respect-for-unborn-human-life">abortion</a> on the grounds that they violate natural law. </p>
<p>Natural law is a philosophy that states there are certain unchangeable parts of human nature that God endows. Catholic theologians who support this basic view extrapolate that intercourse within heterosexual marriage is the only acceptable way to reproduce, that life begins at conception, and that an embryo has a right to life from conception until natural death.</p>
<p>Hence, the Roman Catholic Church only encourages reproduction within the confines of heterosexual marriage, and when a heterosexual couple cannot conceive via intercourse, they are encouraged to adopt or remain childless.</p>
<p>The church has consistently condemned IVF because conception takes place outside of heterosexual intercourse. IVF results in the destruction of embryos and involves conception via a test tube. The church likewise has never supported surrogacy, so the pope’s recent assessment of surrogacy as “despicable” is consistent with the church’s overall views of reproduction.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, surrogacy is the only form of assisted reproduction documented in the Bible, unless one considers Mary’s conception of Jesus to be a form of assisted reproduction. In the <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2016-18&version=NRSVUE">Book of Genesis</a>, the wife of Abraham begs her husband to have sex with <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/301577539_Hagar_the_Egyptian_Wife_Handmaid_and_Concubine">her slave Hagar</a> in order to procreate. Sarah abuses the slave and orchestrates both sex and procreation without Hagar’s consent. </p>
<p>Hagar eventually bears a son <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/religion/articles/2008/01/25/why-scholars-just-cant-stop-talking-about-sarah-and-hagar">named Ishmael</a>. Later, Sarah demands that both Hagar and Ishmael be cast out into the wilderness. Muslims regard Ishmael as a prophet and believe he and Abraham built <a href="https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/introduction-cultures-religions-apah/islam-apah/a/the-kaaba">the Kaaba</a> in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.</p>
<h2>Myths and fears</h2>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Four women standing together wearing masks, with two of them holding new-born babies." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/424528/original/file-20211004-13-1ggnsgp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=47%2C31%2C5176%2C3554&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/424528/original/file-20211004-13-1ggnsgp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424528/original/file-20211004-13-1ggnsgp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424528/original/file-20211004-13-1ggnsgp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424528/original/file-20211004-13-1ggnsgp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424528/original/file-20211004-13-1ggnsgp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424528/original/file-20211004-13-1ggnsgp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Nurses with babies born to Ukrainian surrogate mothers in Kyiv.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/nurses-hold-babies-as-foreign-couples-gather-to-collect-news-photo/1219071333?adppopup=true">Sergei Supinsky/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Fast forward to modern times, and surrogacy is now performed predominantly in high-priced in vitro fertilization centers in one of two ways. In “traditional surrogacy,” the fertilized egg belongs to the surrogate. In “gestational surrogacy,” which is <a href="https://surrogate.com/about-surrogacy/types-of-surrogacy/what-is-traditional-surrogacy/">more common today</a>, the fertilized egg comes from either the intended mother or a donor.</p>
<p>In both cases, that egg combines with a sperm to become an embryo that grows in the surrogate’s womb and not the intended mother’s.</p>
<p>Gestational surrogacy may be preferable because it allows intended mothers to maintain a genetic connection with their child. Others may prefer it because of fears that a surrogate could lay claim to the child with whom <a href="https://www.americansurrogacy.com/blog/the-legal-and-emotional-risks-of-traditional-surrogacy/">she had a biological connection</a>.</p>
<p>The concern that a surrogate will try to steal or adopt a child is one of many legal and ethical fears surrounding surrogacy. In the 1980s, the <a href="https://law.justia.com/cases/new-jersey/supreme-court/1988/109-n-j-396-1.html">Baby M Case</a> in the United States attracted much media attention because it tapped into these fears. In this situation, the surrogate, named Mary Beth Whitehead, attempted to retain custody of the baby she birthed. </p>
<p>The case <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/humrep/deu339">fueled a stereotype</a> of surrogates as emotionally unstable, defying the reality that surrogates undergo psychological testing before participating in a procedure.</p>
<p>Documented instances of surrogates retaining children are also rare. Research shows that surrogates often experience pregnancy and birth differently than they did with their <a href="https://academic.oup.com/humrep/article/33/4/646/4941810">own children</a>. They also often see themselves as <a href="https://academic.oup.com/california-scholarship-online/book/17848">heroes or gift givers</a> instead of mothers. </p>
<p>If the public perceives surrogates negatively, intended parents often fare no better. They are often categorized as selfish, desperate and rich, especially when they choose surrogacy <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/may/25/having-a-child-doesnt-fit-womens-schedule-the-future-of-surrogacy">without a medical reason</a>. </p>
<p>Those popular images of intended parents fail to account for the <a href="https://www.apa.org/pubs/books/reproductive-trauma-second-edition">reproductive trauma</a> many of them experience prior to turning to surrogacy. The decision to hire a surrogate is <a href="https://syndicate.network/symposia/theology/conceiving-family/#:%7E:text=In%20Conceiving%20Family%3A%20A%20Practical,class%20and%20are%20often%20white">often the last option</a> for parents who have tried everything else and are, as <a href="https://www.baylorpress.com/9781481310567/conceiving-family/">I’ve proposed in my own research</a>, attempting to write a happy ending to the story of their reproductive lives.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.filia.org.uk/latest-news/2023/4/19/dont-buy-adopt-stop-surrogacy-now">Critics</a> counter that individuals who use surrogates should be turning to adoption instead. However, this logic fails to recognize that adoption can be traumatic <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2021.105309">for the child</a> and <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2276293/">the birth mother</a>. Adoption, therefore, isn’t a cure-all for individuals who can’t conceive via heterosexual intercourse.</p>
<h2>Ethical concerns about surrogacy</h2>
<p>It is true that surrogacy is expensive, at least in the U.S., where use of the technology routinely costs over <a href="https://money.usnews.com/money/personal-finance/family-finance/articles/how-much-surrogacy-costs-and-how-to-pay-for-it">US$100,000</a>. The cost is so extreme because intended parents pay health care fees for both themselves and the surrogate, many of which aren’t covered by insurance. </p>
<p>They also have to pay legal and agency fees and compensate the surrogate, which alone can range from <a href="https://www.westcoastsurrogacy.com/become-a-surrogate-mother/surrogate-mother-compensation">$45,000 to $75,000</a>. Contrast that price tag to the one in India prior to its ban on international surrogacy in 2015: Couples who traveled there could expect to spend <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2010/04/surrogacy-tourism-india-nayna-patel/">$15,000 to $20,000</a> in total for their surrogacy journey. The extreme costs of surrogacy in the U.S. also limit its availability to the wealthy. </p>
<p>In addition, feminists are divided on how surrogacy affects women. Some feminists feel that surrogates have a right to <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3174860">choose what to do with their bodies</a>. Others object to surrogacy on the grounds that systemic oppression drives women into surrogacy, or that it’s unethical for people to <a href="https://cup.columbia.edu/book/wombs-in-labor/9780231169905">buy women’s bodies</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2010/04/surrogacy-tourism-india-nayna-patel/">Cases documented in India</a> support these concerns. Investigative journalist <a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-red-market-scott-carney?variant=32123686453282">Scott Carney</a> found one prominent Indian surrogacy clinic where surrogates were kept in crowded bedrooms on restricted diets and forced to have Cesarean sections in order to streamline the labor and delivery process. </p>
<p>Scholars also worry about surrogacy’s <a href="https://cbc-network.org/issues/making-life/surrogacy/?fbclid=IwAR13wlHiYvqQ_crLOiatzk6XpkFvp0WKXBWOYfi4BURgMLm00aY4EZDC9Sk">impact on children</a>.
Extensive research hasn’t been conducted with children of surrogates, but research by social scientists studying children born via egg and sperm donation largely mirrors the findings of adoption research: Children have questions about their identity, and they find answers from individuals who are <a href="https://academic.oup.com/humrep/article/15/9/2041/2915461">part of their birth story</a>.</p>
<p>Yet agencies and governments rarely regulate how surrogates, intended parents and children interact following the baby’s birth. </p>
<h2>The case for surrogacy</h2>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman in a green shirt stands in front of colorful red and orange flowers." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/424575/original/file-20211004-12705-rfkwei.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/424575/original/file-20211004-12705-rfkwei.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424575/original/file-20211004-12705-rfkwei.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424575/original/file-20211004-12705-rfkwei.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424575/original/file-20211004-12705-rfkwei.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424575/original/file-20211004-12705-rfkwei.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424575/original/file-20211004-12705-rfkwei.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Actress Gabrielle Union has talked openly about her surrogacy journey.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/gabrielle-union-attends-the-veuve-clicquot-polo-classic-at-news-photo/1344504189?adppopup=true">Frazer Harrison/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Such objections might lead to the conclusion that there is never a reason to hire a surrogate. But this might be too simplistic. Even with the documented struggles on the parts of both intended parents and surrogates, many are profoundly grateful for the technology.</p>
<p>Intended parents often feel surrogates are “<a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520259645/birthing-a-mother">gifts from God</a>” who help them reach their dream of parenthood. Meanwhile, some surrogates believe their powers of procreation provide them with a unique opportunity to help others. Many surrogates see their ability to create life as a source of power, a profound act of altruism that is part of their legacy.</p>
<p>When I spoke with a group of surrogates in Austin, Texas, while conducting research for my book, I found that their stories aligned with <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Surrogate-Motherhood-Conception-In-The-Heart/Ragone/p/book/9780367289249">the findings of other researchers</a> who discovered that many surrogates had positive experiences in which they <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520259645/birthing-a-mother">experienced themselves as heroes</a>. These women felt empowered because they helped infertile heterosexual couples and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rbms.2018.10.019">gay couples</a> create families. Without surrogacy, these individuals would have no way to have a genetic connection with their children. </p>
<p>The surrogates acknowledged that sometimes intended parents could be difficult, that pregnancy and labor could be challenging, and that it could be confusing when a checkout clerk at the grocery store asked what they were planning to name the baby.</p>
<p>Becoming a parent through surrogacy can be awkward and humbling, confusing and miraculous all at the same time.</p>
<p>But when surrogates and intended parents can act freely, with <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520259645/birthing-a-mother">appropriate regulations and the support of society</a>, there is the potential for them to discover that family is not just biological but also social and relational. In those encounters, many experience the technology as life-giving, both metaphorically and literally.</p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of an <a href="https://theconversation.com/becoming-a-parent-through-surrogacy-can-have-ethical-challenges-but-it-is-a-positive-experience-for-some-167760">article first published on Oct. 6, 2021</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220761/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Danielle Tumminio Hansen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Surrogacy can exploit women, but others may choose to be involved for altruistic reasons. A scholar points out that surrogacy’s ethical value is dependent upon the people and systems who use it.Danielle Tumminio Hansen, Assistant Professor of Practical Theology & Spiritual Care, Emory UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2199352024-01-04T16:22:00Z2024-01-04T16:22:00ZShould I have children? Why society’s idealisation of motherhood benefits no one<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567684/original/file-20240103-23-z5eojs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3500%2C2326&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/woman-sitting-on-wooden-bench-staring-1664388412">FotoDuets/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Mothers – and non-mothers. Our language creates the falsehood that being with a child is a norm. Words like <em>childless</em> or <em>childfree</em> firmly place the person without a child as the <a href="https://theconversation.com/being-child-free-has-been-deemed-selfish-for-decades-the-history-of-this-misconception-explained-217322">one lacking</a>. Women who decide not to have children are marked as outsiders by our social and cultural norms. </p>
<p>And the expectation is not just that women will be mothers – it is that they will be the right kind of mother.</p>
<hr>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/should-i-have-children-148388?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=InArticleTop&utm_campaign=Parenting2023">Should I have children?</a> The pieces in this series will help you answer this tough question – exploring fertility, climate change, the cost of living and social pressure.</em></p>
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<p>Women commonly search for the perfect time to be pregnant, <a href="https://theconversation.com/women-still-face-unfair-pressure-about-having-children-heres-what-to-expect-if-you-dont-have-kids-when-youre-young-217135">delaying pregnancy decisions</a>. This might seem like autonomy, but it is often a consequence of the vast gender inequality still existing in our society. Women lack the privilege and support to have children at “less convenient” times. </p>
<p>This is because no matter what we want to believe, women do not have the same status as men. They carry more mental and emotional labour at home, working longer hours than men who are fathers.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/emotional-labour-what-it-is-and-why-it-falls-to-women-in-the-workplace-and-at-home-195965">Emotional labour: what it is – and why it falls to women in the workplace and at home</a>
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<p>And although there has been a <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5932102/">significant rise</a> in the number of single parents in the UK, there are still many barriers – social and practical – to going solo. As poet and essayist <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/mar/30/adrienne-rich">Adrienne Rich</a> wrote in her work Of Woman Born: </p>
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<p>The ‘childless woman’ and the ‘mother’ are a false polarity, which has served the institutions both of motherhood and heterosexuality.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The idealisation of motherhood undermines all women, irrespective of their own choices, as I write in my book <a href="https://canongate.co.uk/books/3664-m-otherhood-on-the-choices-of-being-a-woman/">(M)otherhood: On the choices of being a woman</a>. </p>
<p>The reasons people do not want to have children may be culturally, socially, environmentally and financially motivated. These can be individual choices – or people might be childfree not by choice.</p>
<p>I continue to wonder if, even in this era of unprecedented freedom and choice, women are really free to understand their own reproductive options or have the autonomy to shape these decisions. </p>
<h2>Decisions and regret</h2>
<p>Often, discussions about having a child are shaped in terms of regret. What if you regret it and it is too late? What if you change your mind and it is too late?</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Thoughtful woman" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567685/original/file-20240103-25-hnjxeb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567685/original/file-20240103-25-hnjxeb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567685/original/file-20240103-25-hnjxeb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567685/original/file-20240103-25-hnjxeb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567685/original/file-20240103-25-hnjxeb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567685/original/file-20240103-25-hnjxeb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567685/original/file-20240103-25-hnjxeb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Do women regret not having children – or having them?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/sad-melancholic-young-indian-woman-pensive-1606120177">fizkes/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Studies on regretting having children <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-16-1174-2_11">focus on mothers</a>. It is not considered out of the ordinary for a man to not want children, to be child-free. Women’s fertility choices are <a href="https://newhumanist.org.uk/articles/5870/motherhood-and-choice-wpragya-agarwal">continuously scrutinised</a>, while we don’t often <a href="https://graziadaily.co.uk/life/health-fitness/male-fertility-rates-decline-age/">discuss biological clocks</a> for <a href="https://theconversation.com/male-fertility-how-age-affects-mens-chances-of-having-children-156411">men too</a>. </p>
<p>In 2023, <a href="https://msutoday.msu.edu/news/2023/childfree-study-confirmed-April2023">researchers from Michigan State University</a> found that one in five adults in the state, or about 1.7 million people, didn’t want to have children. This was followed up with another study, <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0283301">published later in 2023</a>, which looked more deeply at people who are childfree by choice. Turns out they’re pretty happy with their decisions. </p>
<p>On the other hand, studies have shown that people who have children are more likely to regret this choice. In 2021, a <a href="https://yougov.co.uk/society/articles/36590-one-twelve-parents-say-they-regret-having-children?redirect_from=%2Ftopics%2Feducation%2Farticles-reports%2F2021%2F06%2F24%2Fone-twelve-parents-say-they-regret-having-children">survey by YouGov</a> of over 1,200 British parents found that 8% say they currently regret having children. And <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/poll-regrets-german-parents-increasingly-have-a-few/a-19440574">a 2016 YouGov study in Germany</a> of over 2,000 people found that 19% of mothers and 20% of fathers said if they could decide again, they would not want to have children.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/does-having-children-make-you-happier-heres-what-the-research-suggests-209540">Does having children make you happier? Here’s what the research suggests</a>
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<p>There may be many reasons for these regrets, but a <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/poll-regrets-german-parents-increasingly-have-a-few/a-19440574">lack of childcare options</a>, and <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-16-1174-2_11">lack of support</a> are likely to be significant. We don’t have a village any more. We are trying to do it all, ourselves, alone.</p>
<p>I keep wondering why society still puts so much pressure on people, especially women, to have children – why it tells them that their primary, most important goal in life is to be a mother, but then quickly labels them a bad mother, an inattentive mother, a neglectful mother.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/meridians.2010.10.2.42">reproductive justice</a> movement aims to change this. It asserts the human right to maintain personal bodily autonomy, to have children or not have children, and to parent the children we have in safe communities. It <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-food-insecurity-affects-peoples-rights-to-choose-whether-or-not-to-have-children-and-how-they-parent-204870">brings focus</a> to marginalised communities, those who are most harmed due to barriers in reproductive health, and those who are also most at risk of sexual and reproductive violence. </p>
<p>Reproductive inequalities also affect those whose lives are outside the binary framework. We cannot discuss autonomy without considering the intersectional aspects of its effects on trans, non-binary, agender and gender non-conforming people.</p>
<p>A choice can sometimes be an illusion. While we might believe that we are perfectly autonomous and free to make our decisions at will, we are never free of our societal and cultural context. </p>
<p><em>Pragya Agarwal discussed the themes in this article as keynote speaker at The Conversation’s Quarter Life live event, <a href="https://theconversation.com/should-i-have-children-join-the-conversation-for-a-live-panel-discussion-in-london-216782">Should I have children?</a>, held with Waterstones in November 2023. Read more articles on this topic <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/should-i-have-children-148388?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=InArticleTop&utm_campaign=Parenting2023">here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/219935/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Pragya Agarwal does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>I have wondered if women are really free to make truly autonomous reproductive decisions.Pragya Agarwal, Visiting Professor of Social Inequities and Injustice, Loughborough UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2174902023-12-01T17:49:18Z2023-12-01T17:49:18ZArtificial wombs could someday be a reality – here’s how they may change our notions of parenthood<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562949/original/file-20231201-25-ap5mgk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C6000%2C3988&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Artificial womb technology could eventually make it possible to grow a foetus from conception to "birth" wholly outside the human body.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/infant-child-fetal-position-embryo-hologram-1733258987">Marko Aliaksandr/ Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Our reproductive lives are considerably different from those of our ancestors, thanks in part to health innovations that have taken place over the past few decades. Practices such as IVF, donor eggs and sperm, womb transplants, surrogacy and egg freezing, mean that for many, there’s now more choice than ever before over whether, when and how to reproduce.</p>
<p>Yet, despite these advances, one aspect of reproduction has remained constant: the need to gestate (grow) foetuses in the womb. But what would happen to our notions of parenthood if technology made it possible to grow a foetus outside the human body?</p>
<p>Until recently, the idea of ectogenesis – growing a foetus outside the body – has been science fiction. But teams in the US, Australia and Japan have begun developing artificial wombs. It’s hoped that this technology will someday save the lives of very premature infants.</p>
<hr>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/should-i-have-children-148388?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=InArticleTop&utm_campaign=Parenting2023">Should I have children?</a> The pieces in this series will help you answer this tough question – exploring fertility, climate change, the cost of living and social pressure.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>Trials have already been performed on animals – with researchers reporting success in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms15112">gestating lamb foetuses</a>.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, a team in the Netherlands is developing a similar system using <a href="https://nl.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/biblio?DB=EPODOC&II=0&ND=3&adjacent=true&locale=nl_NL&FT=D&date=20220331&CC=WO&NR=2022066014A1&KC=A1">simulation technology</a>. This approach mimics the birth of extremely premature infants <a href="https://perinatallifesupport.eu/project/">using a manikin</a> equipped with advanced monitoring and computer modelling. This allows the researchers to understand how an infant may develop in an environment that simulates the womb’s conditions. </p>
<p>Although this may be many decades away, and is not the intended endpoint of current research, artificial womb technologies could eventually lead to “full ectogenesis” – growing a foetus from conception to “birth” wholly outside the human body.</p>
<p>One barrier to research into full ectogenesis is <a href="https://www.futuremedicine.com/doi/10.2217/rme-2019-0138">current legislation worldwide</a>, which either bans embryo research altogether or forbids growing human embryos for research beyond 14 days.</p>
<p>Legislation would therefore need to change for <a href="https://www.healthcouncil.nl/documents/advisory-reports/2023/10/31/the-14-day-rule-in-the-dutch-embryo-act">this kind of research</a> to happen. There’s an increasing appetite for this among the <a href="https://www.nuffieldbioethics.org/publications/time-limits-on-maintaining-human-embryos-in-research">international scientific community</a>, but whether such a change would have public support is not known. </p>
<p>Full ectogenesis also raises important <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2022.2048738">ethical, legal and social questions</a>, which would need to be answered before it can be used.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2008/22/contents">In the UK</a>, the person who gives birth is the child’s legal mother – regardless of genetics or intention. Growing a foetus in an artificial womb could however sever this link between gestation and motherhood. </p>
<p><a href="https://lawcom.gov.uk/project/surrogacy/#:%7E:text=A%20new%20pathway%20to%20legal,the%20right%20to%20withdraw%20consent.">Surrogacy</a> has, to some extent, already challenged our legal and social conceptions of motherhood. The surrogate is the child’s legal mother at birth, but parenthood can then be transferred to the intended parents via a parental order or adoption.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman touches a pregnant woman's stomach with." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562964/original/file-20231201-25-va05yl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562964/original/file-20231201-25-va05yl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562964/original/file-20231201-25-va05yl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562964/original/file-20231201-25-va05yl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562964/original/file-20231201-25-va05yl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562964/original/file-20231201-25-va05yl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562964/original/file-20231201-25-va05yl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Surrogacy has already challenged notions of parenthood.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/pregnant-woman-talking-room-maternity-concept-2032275200">metamorworks/ Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>But artificial wombs could disrupt long-established norms in more profound ways, as there would no longer be a “birth mother” at all. The law would need to define who the legal mother is in such circumstances, and whether that definition applies to all mothers or only when artificial womb technologies are used.</p>
<p>The impact of artificial wombs on legal definitions of fatherhood may be less significant.</p>
<p>In the UK, the person who provides the sperm is normally the legal father of the child – unless the child is born using sperm donated in a licensed clinic. In that case, the donor is <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2008/22/section/41">not the legal father</a> of any resulting child. </p>
<p>But fatherhood (or parenthood for same-sex couples) can also legally be attributed to someone via the <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2008/22/contents">Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008</a>. This allows someone not genetically related to the child to be recognised as their legal father or other parent. The provisions in this Act would apply to full ectogenesis because this will require IVF to create the embryo.</p>
<p>Full ectogenesis may result in more radical changes to the way we view legal parenthood. It may cause us not only to rethink our ideas of “mother” and “father”, but also the language used. Would it be more appropriate, for example, to always use the word “parent”, instead?</p>
<h2>Personal decisions</h2>
<p>Artificial womb technology would also influence the personal decisions that people make about reproduction. It could drastically change the way the decision to become a parent fits into many people’s lives.</p>
<p>Like egg freezing and IVF, artificial wombs would make it possible for women in particular to have children later in life. It could also allow people to gestate multiple foetuses at once – making it possible for them to complete their families within a far shorter time period than has previously been possible.</p>
<p>Artificial womb technology technology would make it easier for more people to have their own biological children – including single men, same sex couples and women unable to become pregnant for health reasons. It would also mean that women would no longer have to undergo the significant risks and burdens associated with <a href="https://reproductive-health-journal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12978-018-0527-2">pregnancy and childbirth</a> in order to have children.</p>
<p>In science fiction, artificial wombs are often a symbol of dystopia – of technological incursion into natural processes and a means of government control (as in The Matrix or Brave New World). But artificial womb technology might instead add to the reproductive choices currently available – making it possible for more people to become parents if they want to.</p>
<p>Full ectogenesis is still a long way off, but it’s important to discuss it now so that we can have a more informed view of the issues it raises. As with many aspects of human reproduction, artificial womb technology may be divisive.</p>
<p>Some will see it as a way to increase reproductive autonomy and equity, others as dangerous – or even a threat to traditional family structures and values. More still will probably see its potential for both. Whatever your position, this technology could be on the horizon and its implications for society and our concept of parenthood merit careful consideration.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217490/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen Wilkinson receives funding from Wellcome. He is Principal Investigator for a Research Development Award in Humanities & Social Science called 'The Future of Human Reproduction: transformative agendas and methods for the Humanities and Social Sciences' (222858/Z/21/Z). He is also a member of Wellcome's Career Development Award Interview Panel.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicola J. Williams receives funding from Wellcome. She is a co-investigator for a Research Development Award in Humanities and Social Science called 'The Future of Human Reproduction: transformative agendas and methods for the Humanities and Social Sciences' (222858/Z/21/Z). She is also Senior Deputy for the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology Special Interest Group: Ethics and Law. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sara Fovargue receives funding from Wellcome. She is Co-Investigator for a Research Development Award in Humanities & Social Science called 'The Future of Human Reproduction: transformative agendas and methods for the Humanities and Social Sciences' (222858/Z/21/Z).
</span></em></p>Artificial wombs could drastically change how the decision to become a parent fits into many people’s lives.Stephen Wilkinson, Professor of Bioethics, Lancaster UniversityNicola J. Williams, Wellcome Lecturer in The Ethics of Human Reproduction, Lancaster UniversitySara Fovargue, Professor of Law, University of SheffieldLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2173222023-11-30T14:22:54Z2023-11-30T14:22:54ZBeing child-free has been deemed ‘selfish’ for decades – the history of this misconception explained<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562173/original/file-20231128-18-m2by5b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=3%2C17%2C1260%2C943&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Waiting By The Window by Carl Holsøe.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Waiting_By_The_Window.jpg">Wiki Commons</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Choosing to be child-free is <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2021/11/19/growing-share-of-childless-adults-in-u-s-dont-expect-to-ever-have-children/">more common than ever before</a> in some countries, including the US. Many people see not having children an <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jun/20/give-up-having-children-couples-save-planet-climate-crisis">ethical and ecological choice</a>, made to protect the environment, people and other species. Being child-free is about being “green”. Consequently, more positive discourses around childlessness are emerging.</p>
<p>But this was not always the case. In societies that encourage an increased birthrate, motherhood is <a href="https://www.proquest.com/docview/232581954">often presented</a> as natural and caring. Meanwhile, women without children are often described as <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2022-00837-001">biological failures, or as deviant</a>. For example, when visible in popular culture – they are often not represented at all – women without children are either presented as animal-lovers like the “crazy cat lady” or animal-killers, like Cruella de Vil. In these examples, the focus on animal represents their supposed inability to care for humans (their species), their “unnaturalness”. </p>
<p>In the 19th century, women without children were already being described as selfish and unnatural. The natural world was conversely used to describe fertile women, who were often compared to flowers in bloom in literature.</p>
<hr>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/should-i-have-children-148388?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=InArticleTop&utm_campaign=Parenting2023">Should I have children?</a> The pieces in this series will help you answer this tough question – exploring fertility, climate change, the cost of living and social pressure.</em>
<em>We’ll keep the discussion going at a live event in London on November 30. <a href="https://www.waterstones.com/events/the-conversation-should-i-have-children/london-tottenham-court-road">Click here</a> for more information and tickets.</em></p>
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<p>The association of women with plants and fertility is an ancient one, found particularly in agricultural pagan figures. Demeter, the ancient Greek goddess of the harvest, for example, was the goddess of grains, but also of marriage and fertility. </p>
<p>Many expressions still link women’s reproductive systems and flowers. In French, the flower is a metaphor for a virgin sexual organ. To <em>avoir ses fleurs</em> (have your flowers) is an expression for having periods, and being <em>une jeune fille en fleur</em> (a young woman in flower) means that the young woman is ready for marriage – and therefore reproduction. </p>
<p>Women themselves are also compared to flowers: in English, both “pretty flower” and “English rose” describe attractive young women. Reducing women to flowers, through these comparisons, is not only misogynistic, but reinforces the social pressure to produce children “on time”. Timing is important in these comparisons, as flowers fade quickly.</p>
<h2>Being child-free in the 19th century</h2>
<p>But what about women without children, those flowers that will not produce seeds? <a href="https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.12657/25269/1004825.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y**">My research</a> into literature and paintings from the second half of the 19th century has shown that they were often represented as monstrous horticultural hybrids. </p>
<p>At the time, “hybrid flowers” – which were often sterile – became the preferred metaphor to describe sexually active women who were either unable or refused to bear children. In France, having and raising children was seen as a woman’s <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/debating-the-woman-question-in-the-french-third-republic-18701920/A1E670D26BDB0203197A734E856855C1#:%7E:text=Book%20description,neighbors%20from%201870%20to%201920.">natural and civic duty</a> for the nation. Conversely, women who were sexually active but without children were often seen as <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Figures_of_Ill_Repute.html?id=jaSPKb2kJ5wC&redir_esc=y#:%7E:text=Ubiquitous%20in%20the%20streets%20and,%2C%20class%2C%20and%20the%20body.">unnatural and dangerous</a>.</p>
<p>Comparisons that described women as flowers were historically about fertility. How was it then that flowers became a metaphor for sterility at the end of the 19th century? </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Painting of a woman smelling roses" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562174/original/file-20231128-25-guh58a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562174/original/file-20231128-25-guh58a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562174/original/file-20231128-25-guh58a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562174/original/file-20231128-25-guh58a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562174/original/file-20231128-25-guh58a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562174/original/file-20231128-25-guh58a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562174/original/file-20231128-25-guh58a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fertile, childbearing women were compared to more classic flowers such as roses. Girl And Roses by Auguste Toulmouche (1879).</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.artsy.net/artwork/auguste-toulmouche-woman-and-roses">Clark Art Institute</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The emphasis on flowers as sexual organs and as a metaphor for women’s sexuality appears to have been used more often after the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus <a href="https://ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/linnaeus.html#:%7E:text=Biography%20of%20Linnaeus,from%20a%20very%20early%20age">openly discussed</a> the sexuality of plants with anthropomorphic language at the end of the 18th century.</p>
<p>It is important to note that, for a long time, if men knew at all that flowers were sexual organs, they believed they were unisexual and feminine. They did not believe that both male and female organs were involved in the production of fruits. </p>
<p>Once the sexual nature of plants had been established, the nature of the floral metaphor changed and the innocence of the flower was lost. Flowers progressively became the symbol of a young lady with an emerging sexuality or who was waiting to “bear fruit”.</p>
<h2>Horticultural hybrids</h2>
<p>During the second empire in France (1852-1870) and the beginning of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Third-Republic-French-history">Third Republic</a> (1870-1840), horticultural hybrids were extremely popular. </p>
<p>Horticulturists developed large plants and flowers such as <a href="https://www.britannica.com/plant/cattleya">cattleya</a>, <a href="https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/hibiscus/growing-guide">hibiscus</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/plant/Nidularium">nidularium</a> which often looked like enlarged genitals (natural plants are often a lot smaller and less colourful). These hybrids made the sexual analogy even more obvious. </p>
<p>By the end of the 19th century, the artificial hybrids became used for describing, indirectly, near-pornographic scenes. Here is an example from <a href="https://global.oup.com/ukhe/product/the-kill-9780199536924?cc=gb&lang=en&">The Kill</a> (1895), a famous novel by <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Emile-Zola">Émile Zola</a>. Instead of describing the characters making love, he describes the plants:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>As their glances penetrated into the corners of the hothouse, the darkness became filled with a more furious debauch of leaves and stalks; they could not distinguish on the terraces between the marantas, soft as velvet, the gloxinias, purple-belled, the dracoenas, like blades of old lacquer; it was a great dance of living plants pursuing one another with unsatisfied fervour.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Many of the hybrids being created at this time were sterile. They therefore became a metaphor for “unproductive” sexuality. Because they were man-made, they could be seen as a perversion of the laws of nature. Comparing women to those hybrids was a way to criticise what was deemed the artificiality of their infertility, or decision not to have children. </p>
<p>Fertile, childbearing women were frequently compared to natural, more classic flowers such as roses or lilies.</p>
<p>At the time, France was obsessed with its low birth rate. Many politicians believed it explained why France had lost the war against Prussia (1870-1871). Childless women were therefore also seen as bad citizens.</p>
<p>Through their comparisons with hybrid, infertile flowers, women who could not or choose not to reproduce were deemed un-French, undesirable and, in some ways, monstruous. </p>
<p>Understanding how women are associated with nature and very often compared to flowers is essential to understanding how being childless continues to be demonised in contemporary society. As contemporary art, culture and the very language we use demonstrates, child-free women are still often described as “unnatural” or biologically deviant.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em>Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/something-good-156">Sign up here</a>.</em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217322/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Aude Campmas is affiliated with:
I am a volunteer for Portsmouth Abuse and Rape Counselling Service.</span></em></p>Hybrid flowers became a metaphor for sterility at the end of the 19th century.Aude Campmas, Lecturer in French Studies, University of SouthamptonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2175612023-11-17T03:54:30Z2023-11-17T03:54:30ZPlay School meets Ikea: new Australian play Welcome to Your New Life hilariously captures new motherhood<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560092/original/file-20231116-19-nz4fa3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=30%2C10%2C6688%2C3968&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Matt Byrne/STCSA</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Anna Goldsworthy’s hilarious and beautifully honest book Welcome To Your New Life celebrates the joy and roller-coaster ride of first-time parenting.</p>
<p>Now a new play adapted for the stage by Goldsworthy, Welcome To Your New Life takes the audience through the experience of pregnancy, delivery and new parenthood from sleep-deprived birth to toddler years. </p>
<p>Goldsworthy’s lively writing – monologues interspersed with vignettes, songs and small scenes – deftly captures the joy and wilful naivety of a first pregnancy, followed by the overwhelming love and sleep-deprivation-induced anxiety of the first months. As a mother of two I laughed, scoffed, giggled and cried in recognition and remembrance of the bliss and insanity of being a newly minted parent. </p>
<p>Erin James excels as the unnamed mum-to-be/new mum: her delight is infectious, her navigating of what other people expect when you’re expecting is razor-sharp, and her post-natal anxiety spirals heartbreaking in their relentlessness. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/is-it-possible-to-describe-the-complexity-and-absurdity-of-motherhood-181066">Is it possible to describe the complexity and absurdity of motherhood?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<h2>A joy</h2>
<p>All three actors are a sheer joy to watch.</p>
<p>Family and friends, medical professionals, passers-by, the family dog and assorted new mothers are deftly brought to life by Kathryn Adams and Matt Crook. Crook’s breastfeeding patronising new mum is a highlight, as is Adams’ lactation consultant. Crook and Adams also each take on key roles in the new mum’s life.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560094/original/file-20231116-15-e2ewrl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man and a woman ham for the camera." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560094/original/file-20231116-15-e2ewrl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560094/original/file-20231116-15-e2ewrl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560094/original/file-20231116-15-e2ewrl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560094/original/file-20231116-15-e2ewrl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560094/original/file-20231116-15-e2ewrl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560094/original/file-20231116-15-e2ewrl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560094/original/file-20231116-15-e2ewrl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The cast are a joy to watch.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Matt Byrne/STCSA</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The mum’s much-loved grandmother Moggie is given warmth, humour and depth by Adams in a masterful performance. The love and support between the mum and Moggie is one of the relationships we see in detail; her kind comforting of the frazzled mother is part of the human heart of this piece. Through her, we are invited to reflect on the cycle of life and death that is the human condition.</p>
<p>The other detailed relationship is the devoted, then exhausted, husband-and-father Nicholas, played by Crook with superb skill and uncanny accuracy. His scenes with James – welcome moments in the play where the story is told in duologue – are lively and nuanced. A scene where the accumulated lack of sleep while on a blackly funny holiday finally brings them to shouting point is given devastating honesty by Crook. </p>
<h2>Adoring and cooing</h2>
<p>Beautifully directed by Shannon Rush, the first act centres on the mum-to-be. Rush repeatedly seats James on a circular couch chair in the middle of a circular Mondrian-esque rug, evoking the baby in the womb. </p>
<p>As the audience, in the second act we are positioned as “you”, the much-adored new baby. The performers focus their attention on different audience members as if they are the baby – adoring and cooing, marvelling at the developmental brilliance or bodily functions of this miracle child.</p>
<p>Simon Greer’s set is a child’s playroom on a giant scale, the actors tiny among the huge letter blocks, doors, box shelves and giant hanging mobile. Huge wooden toys serve as stethoscopes and seats, even the ever-present mobile phones are flat blocks of wood: it’s Play School meets Ikea. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560091/original/file-20231116-20-xjji4m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The stage." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560091/original/file-20231116-20-xjji4m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560091/original/file-20231116-20-xjji4m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560091/original/file-20231116-20-xjji4m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560091/original/file-20231116-20-xjji4m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560091/original/file-20231116-20-xjji4m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560091/original/file-20231116-20-xjji4m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560091/original/file-20231116-20-xjji4m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Simon Greer’s set is a child’s playroom on a giant scale.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Matt Byrne/STCSA</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The second act is stripped back, all bleached white scandi surfaces, giant alphabet blocks now lined up neatly along the walls, centre stage starkly empty – perfectly reflecting the too-bright world of post-natal sleep deprivation and its resultant devastating anxiety. </p>
<p>Gavin Norris’ lighting is simple and elegant: the massive contemporary light circle also eerily suggesting the too-bright light above the delivery-room bed.</p>
<h2>A play with music</h2>
<p>Billed as “a play with music”, composer Alan John’s music is beautifully wrapped around and through the story. Woven through the scenes are classical piano music and John’s songs, evoking and quoting nursery rhymes, or giving voice to key moments. Heartbeats and baby screaming are part of an ebbing and flowing sound design by Andrew Howard.</p>
<p>A large toy piano is a reminder of Goldsworthy’s life as a concert pianist. Key moments play out here: the mum plays music to negotiate the challenges she faces, and the ultimate new project: birthing a baby.</p>
<p>The three performers play toy pianos, glockenspiels, guitar and percussion, and also sing beautifully in harmony. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560093/original/file-20231116-17-hgq4yl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman stands in front of a toilet." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560093/original/file-20231116-17-hgq4yl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560093/original/file-20231116-17-hgq4yl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=361&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560093/original/file-20231116-17-hgq4yl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=361&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560093/original/file-20231116-17-hgq4yl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=361&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560093/original/file-20231116-17-hgq4yl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560093/original/file-20231116-17-hgq4yl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560093/original/file-20231116-17-hgq4yl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A song about a composting toilet is a particular delight.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Matt Byrne/STCSA</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Inevitably there is some unevenness to this new show: some of the monologue songs in act one are less melodic and more difficult to access emotionally for the audience, but James’ clear voice shines, especially in the lush and dramatic piece about the dangers to a baby of a composting toilet. </p>
<p>In her program notes, Goldsworthy reflects on childbirth and parenting, a time when “survival becomes a greater priority than making art”. </p>
<p>Thank goodness for Goldsworthy’s writer’s reflex recording all her pregnancy-birth-post-partum experiences as they happened. Hilarious, insightful, heartfelt and zinging with the ping of recognition for parents and anyone who’s watched others go through this, Welcome To Your New Life is an important and wonderful new arrival.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Welcome to your New Life is on at the State Theatre Company South Australia until November 25.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217561/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Catherine Campbell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Anna Goldsworthy’s lively writing deftly captures the joy and wilful naivety of a first pregnancy, followed by the overwhelming love and sleep-deprivation-induced anxiety of the first months.Catherine Campbell, Lecturer, Performing Arts, UniSA Creative, University of South AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2119722023-11-09T14:15:03Z2023-11-09T14:15:03ZHow autistic parents feel about breastfeeding and the support they receive – new research<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550058/original/file-20230925-15-aytg7n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5020%2C3321&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Almost half the study's respondents found breastfeeding to be a positive experience most or all of the time. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/young-mother-breastfeeding-her-newborn-child-516261334">Lolostock/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Surprisingly little is still known about autism and breastfeeding. A few years ago, <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/13623613221089374">we reviewed</a> all of the research evidence and found limited information about the experiences of autistic parents – beyond highlighting that the sensory differences when breastfeeding could be very challenging for them. We also found that communication by health professionals didn’t always meet the <a href="https://www.autisticuk.org/post/autistic-mothers-experiences-of-breast-and-formula-feeding-babies-what-does-the-evidence-s">needs</a> of autistic parents.</p>
<p>So, for our newly released <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/mcn.13581">study</a>, we asked 152 autistic parents from across the UK about their breast- and formula-feeding experiences. Some 87% of those who breastfed were strongly motivated to keep breastfeeding even if they ran into difficulties, while only 54% of all the parents we interviewed used any infant formula. This is a substantially lower rate of formula use than we’d typically see in the UK, where <a href="https://doc.ukdataservice.ac.uk/doc/7281/mrdoc/pdf/7281_ifs-uk-2010_report.pdf">88% of babies</a> receive some infant formula during their first six months.</p>
<p>Almost half of our respondents found breastfeeding to be a positive or enjoyable experience most or all of the time. This included the experience of feeling bonded with their baby and enjoying learning about breastfeeding.</p>
<p>That said, many of these autistic parents described experiencing sensory difficulties, with touch-related issues being their most frequently reported challenge. These issues ranged from discomfort caused by “little hands” touching their skin, to pain from infants suckling, biting and “latching on” to the breast. </p>
<p>Some 10% of our participants expressed breastmilk all of the time. This is higher than we would expect in an average group of parents, as expressing milk for every feed is <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2648.2012.06035.x">usually only done</a> when babies are premature or parents have returned to work. On the other hand, the feeling and sound of breast pumps could be unbearable for some of the parents we interviewed.</p>
<h2>Interoception</h2>
<p>Most people know about the five basic human senses: touch, sight, sound, smell and taste. But we also have three other senses that are just as important. The <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/neuroscience/vestibular-system">vestibular system</a> helps us keep our balance and move around safely; <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/neuroscience/proprioception#:%7E:text=Proprioception%20refers%20to%20the%20sense,have%20receptors%20involved%20in%20proprioception.">proprioception</a> lets us know how our muscles and joints are moving; and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/interoception">interoception</a> tells us about what is happening inside our bodies, such as our heart rate, breathing and digestion.</p>
<p>Autistic people often have <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S073657481630096X">different interoceptive experiences</a> to non-autistic people – such as either not knowing or being acutely aware that they are hungry, thirsty or need the toilet. </p>
<p>With regard to breastfeeding, 41% of our participants who breastfed told us that their interoceptive experiences relating to the <a href="https://www.breastmilkcounts.com/breastfeeding-basics/the-let-down/">milk let-down reflex</a> (the response from your body that causes breastmilk to flow) was uncomfortable or painful always or most of the time. This included having “a feeling of dread” or the let-down reflex feeling odd in some way. One of our parents noted that “it felt like I had an old-fashioned telephone ringing in my breasts”.</p>
<h2>Adaptation strategies</h2>
<p>Whether our parents breast- or formula-fed, the intensity of babies’ frequent feeding could be overwhelming – a <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1468-2397.2009.00684.x">well-known issue</a> among the general population of parents too. However, for autistic parents, carefully developed strategies to stay regulated and de-stress, such as going for a walk or watching an episode of a favourite TV show, could be disrupted by the busy routine of new parenthood.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="A woman looks at her phone while breastfeeding her baby." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550067/original/file-20230925-25-cnncei.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550067/original/file-20230925-25-cnncei.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550067/original/file-20230925-25-cnncei.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550067/original/file-20230925-25-cnncei.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550067/original/file-20230925-25-cnncei.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550067/original/file-20230925-25-cnncei.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550067/original/file-20230925-25-cnncei.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/portrait-young-confident-woman-modern-living-2049690128">BAZA Production/Shutterstock</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>The parents in our study had done a lot of problem-solving to reduce the sensory challenges of feeding their babies. This included adapting their clothing and distracting themselves during feeding by looking at a mobile phone, for example. </p>
<p>There is evidence that bonding is <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nhs.12918">not negatively impacted</a> by the use of smartphones when breastfeeding in a general population. So, these types of distraction should be encouraged for all parents who are finding breastfeeding hard but want to continue doing so.</p>
<p>While 76% of our parents had received some form of breastfeeding support, nearly three-quarters of these parents (71%) still reported feeling unsupported. Issues included there not being enough breastfeeding support available, and health professionals providing conflicting information – concerns that also found in the accounts of <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/mcn.13355">non-autistic parents</a>.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/dehumanising-policies-leave-autistic-people-struggling-to-access-health-education-and-housing-new-review-202997">'Dehumanising policies' leave autistic people struggling to access health, education and housing – new review</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>It also appears that those supporting infant feeding, such as midwives and health visitors, did not have a good understanding of autistic communication. For example, some parents felt they were not listened to or that their concerns were dismissed.</p>
<p>Furthermore, some parents felt that staff did not appear to understand the specific sensory and interoceptive differences that could affect autistic people while breastfeeding.</p>
<h2>Room for improvement</h2>
<p>Overall, our study suggests there is a need for better understanding of autism among those providing infant feeding support. The national autism training <a href="https://www.annafreud.org/training/national-autism-trainer-programme/">programme</a>, which is developed and delivered by autistic adults, aims to improve this situation across England. Ideally, similar programmes should be implemented in the other UK nations.</p>
<p>A second area for improvement is for autistic parents, their partners and other people supporting them to be aware of potential feeding issues in advance, so they can be better prepared. Our project provides a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@AutismMenstruationToMenopause/videos">suite of videos</a>, designed and created by autistic health professionals and parents, to help provide this information in an autism-friendly way.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211972/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Aimee Grant receives funding from UKRI and the Wellcome Trust. She is a non-executive director of Disability Wales. We wish to thank Prof Amy Brown, who was also part of the research team.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kathryn Williams receives funding for her PhD studentship from the Economic and Social Research Council. She is affiliated with Autistic UK CIC, where she is a voluntary non-executive director.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Catrin Griffiths does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>New research sheds light on how autism affects how we feed our babies, and vice versa.Aimee Grant, Senior Lecturer in Public Health and Wellcome Trust Career Development Fellow, Swansea UniversityCatrin Griffiths, Research Officer, Swansea UniversityKathryn Williams, PhD Candidate, Cardiff UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2134992023-10-19T12:36:24Z2023-10-19T12:36:24ZNew treatment for postpartum depression offers hope, but the stigma attached to the condition still lingers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552646/original/file-20231008-19-k1z29z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C17%2C5991%2C3970&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A lack of interest in the child is one of the signs of postpartum depression.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/young-sad-mother-holding-her-sleeping-baby-in-her-royalty-free-image/1489251307?phrase=postpartum+depression&adppopup=true">Drazen Zigic/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Postpartum depression can affect anyone, and it often sneaks in quietly, like a shadow in the corners of a new mother’s life. It presents significant challenges for around <a href="https://www.postpartumdepression.org/resources/statistics/">1 in 7 new mothers</a>, affecting their emotional well-being and overall quality of life and that of the newborn. </p>
<p>Many – <a href="https://www.marchofdimes.org/find-support/topics/postpartum/baby-blues-after-pregnancy#">if not most</a> – women experience the “baby blues,” or generalized feelings of sadness, worry, unhappiness and exhaustion, in the initial days after giving birth. In most cases, these mood changes <a href="https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/perinatal-depression">are resolved in the first two weeks after having a baby</a>. In contrast, the symptoms of postpartum depression endure for more extended periods, sometimes lingering <a href="https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/postpartum-depression-may-last-years">for up to three years</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/prenatal/delivery-beyond/Pages/understanding-motherhood-and-mood-baby-blues-and-beyond.aspx">The symptoms can also start</a> <a href="https://www.womenshealth.gov/mental-health/mental-health-conditions/postpartum-depression">during pregnancy</a>. Research shows that more than half of women who <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-023-05030-1">experience depression symptoms during pregnancy</a> will develop postpartum depression too.</p>
<p>A much more <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK544304/#">rare and severe psychiatric disorder</a> following delivery is called postpartum psychosis. Its onset is rapid and severe, with hallucinations, delusions and emotional distress, along with <a href="https://theconversation.com/rare-and-tragic-cases-of-postpartum-psychosis-are-bringing-renewed-attention-to-its-risks-and-the-need-for-greater-awareness-of-psychosis-after-childbirth-201282">bizarre and sometimes dangerous behaviors</a>. About 1 or 2 in 1,000 women experience postpartum psychosis after giving birth.</p>
<p>We are a <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicole-lynch-dnp-msn-cns-cne-rnc-ob-02088813/">clinical nurse specialist</a> and a <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/shannon-pickett-phd-lmhc-77022a42">licensed mental health counselor</a>, and together we have over 45 years of experience as educators and clinicians.</p>
<p>With proper awareness, education and intervention, perinatal mood disorders are <a href="https://ppdil.org/legislation/ppmd-awareness-month/">nearly 100% treatable</a>. We want women to realize that they are not alone, they are not to blame, and with help <a href="https://ppdil.org/what-helps/">they can be well again</a>. </p>
<h2>Crying, sadness and lack of bonding</h2>
<p>Following pregnancy, many women experience normal changes that can mimic symptoms of depression, such as sadness, worry and exhaustion. The transition to motherhood, particularly with a new baby in the home, can be overwhelming. However, it’s essential to distinguish between these common adjustments and <a href="https://www.marchofdimes.org/find-support/topics/postpartum/postpartum-depression#">more concerning signs of depression</a>.</p>
<p>If you or someone you know finds themselves experiencing any of the following symptoms persistently for over two weeks after giving birth, it’s crucial they reach out to their doctor, nurse or midwife. Here are some of the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK519070/#">most-reported symptoms</a> of postpartum depression:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1745506519844044">Lack of bonding and feeling disconnected</a> from the baby or experiencing a <a href="https://ym.care/rfx">lack of interest in them</a>.</li>
<li>Restlessness or moodiness and feeling unusually agitated or irritable.</li>
<li>Persistent feelings of sadness, hopelessness or being overwhelmed.</li>
<li>Experiencing physical symptoms such as persistent headaches, other body aches and pains or digestive issues that don’t resolve.</li>
<li>A profound lack of energy or motivation, making daily tasks feel daunting.</li>
<li>Significant changes in appetite and either eating too little or too much.</li>
<li>Disturbed sleep patterns, such as sleeping too much or too little, even when given the opportunity to rest.</li>
<li>Difficulty concentrating or making decisions, or experiencing memory problems.</li>
<li>Overwhelming feelings of guilt, worthlessness or inadequacy as a mother.</li>
<li>A notable decline in interest or pleasure in activities previously enjoyed.</li>
<li>Isolating from friends and family, avoiding social interactions.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK544304/">Thoughts of</a> <a href="https://theconversation.com/rare-and-tragic-cases-of-postpartum-psychosis-are-bringing-renewed-attention-to-its-risks-and-the-need-for-greater-awareness-of-psychosis-after-childbirth-201282">harming the baby or themselves</a>. These <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-022-01002-z">should be taken extremely seriously</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1155%2F2018%2F8262043">warrant immediate attention</a>.</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1089/jwh.2020.8862">Some risk factors</a> associated with higher likelihood of postpartum depression include life stress, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F2167702616644894">depression history</a>, maternal anxiety, lack of social support, infrequent exercise, unintended pregnancy and <a href="https://www.nimh.nih.gov/sites/default/files/documents/health/publications/perinatal-depression/perinatal-depression.pdf">intimate partner violence</a>.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Knowing the warning signs of postpartum depression could prevent a tragedy.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Real-life examples</h2>
<p>People dealing with depression not only have to manage their symptoms but may also <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/sah0000431">face the stigma</a> and discrimination that these conditions often bring. There is an expectation that new parents will be happy after delivery. Sadness, stigma, shame or guilt greatly affects a person’s willingness to seek help. Studies show that many people opt not to seek treatment to avoid being <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jmwh.13366">perceived as unfit parents by health care providers or family</a>. </p>
<p>As a nurse and a mom who has experienced postpartum depression, I (Nicole Lynch) frequently share my story with others. Years ago, another mom shared with me how helpful it was to hear that she wasn’t alone. Knowing that other women – dedicated parents who love their children – can feel this way and that <a href="https://www.postpartum.net/learn-more/depression/">things can get better gave her hope</a>.</p>
<p>Throughout my career, I (Shannon Pickett) have worked with several mothers and prospective parents who have struggled with postpartum depression. For instance, I worked with one woman for several years about her anxiety and her struggle to conceive. After years of trying, she finally became pregnant. Both she and her husband were overjoyed and could not wait to become parents. </p>
<p>The pregnancy went smoothly and there were no complications. She had never shown any signs of depression previously, but once the baby was born, that changed. My client had trouble bonding with the baby and did not want to hold or console her new son when he needed soothing.</p>
<p>Her husband would often step in to comfort the infant and would ask my client, “What is wrong with you?” It caused frustration within their marriage because the father felt as though he was doing the caregiving alone and that my client was withdrawn. She had planned to take a break from therapy for a bit after the baby was born, but her husband encouraged her to reach out to schedule an appointment. </p>
<p>I could tell right away that she was struggling with postpartum depression. She barely smiled, had difficulty engaging in and concentrating on our conversation and cried throughout most of the session. </p>
<p>We talked a lot about the guilt she felt over not wanting to be around her son or hold him, even though she had fought for so long to become a mother. After receiving a proper diagnosis and starting an antidepressant medication, my client was able to recover and bond with her son. The medication did take a few weeks to get into her system, so the results were not instant. Maintaining her sessions and using her support system were <a href="https://doi.org/10.2147/IJWH.S6938">important for her recovery as well</a>. </p>
<h2>Heightened risk</h2>
<p>While postpartum depression can affect anyone regardless of their socioeconomic status or their background, <a href="https://iris.who.int/bitstream/handle/10665/112828/9789241506809_eng.pdf?sequence=1">some women affected by social inequalities</a> have increased risk of many common postpartum mental disorders and their <a href="https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240045989">adverse consequences</a>. </p>
<p>One study found that new mothers with low incomes, those who had not earned a college degree, were unmarried or were unemployed were 11 times more likely than women with no risk factors to have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.whi.2009.11.003">clinically elevated depression scores three months after having a baby</a>.</p>
<h2>Inadequate support</h2>
<p>The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6919a2.htm">about 20% of pregnant women were not asked about depression</a> during a prenatal visit, and more than half of women with postpartum depression remain untreated for their symptoms. </p>
<p>What’s worse, there is a <a href="https://iris.who.int/bitstream/handle/10665/112828/9789241506809_eng.pdf">lack of access to mental health services</a> for women after delivery. Many promising treatments are underexplored, especially in scientific studies. While more people are talking about postpartum depression, there is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jmwh.13366">still stigma around seeking help</a>. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">A new oral medication may begin to relieve postpartum depression within three days.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A new medication offers hope</h2>
<p>It’s vital to remember that postpartum depression is a treatable condition. Seeking help from health care professionals is a courageous and necessary step. </p>
<p>In August 2023, the Food and Drug Administration <a href="https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-approves-first-oral-treatment-postpartum-depression">approved the first oral medication</a>, Zurzuvae, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9085YWhyUTU">specifically intended to treat severe depression after childbirth</a>. It holds promise for addressing the complex array of symptoms associated with postpartum depression and offers newfound hope for affected mothers and their families. </p>
<p>If you are experiencing symptoms of postpartum depression, consider <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists">finding a therapist</a> in your community for either telehealth or in-person sessions.</p>
<p>There are also <a href="https://ppdil.org/">postpartum support groups</a> that meet in person and online.</p>
<p>Supportive therapies, including counseling, medication and lifestyle adjustments, can significantly alleviate symptoms and improve overall well-being. Early intervention is key to a faster and more complete recovery, ensuring that mothers can enjoy the precious moments with their baby and find fulfillment in motherhood.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213499/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicole Lynch is a volunteer with the Post Partum Depression Alliance of Illinois <a href="https://ppdil.org/">https://ppdil.org/</a>. She serves as a Visiting Professor at Purdue Global.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shannon Pickett serves as University Faculty at Purdue Global.</span></em></p>Half a million new mothers in the US suffer from postpartum depression every year, yet a lack of awareness and stigma toward the condition keep many from getting the help they need.Nicole Lynch, Clinical Nurse Specialist and Visiting Professor of Nursing, Purdue UniversityShannon Pickett, Professor of Psychology and Licensed Mental Health Counselor, Purdue UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2142772023-10-09T19:10:43Z2023-10-09T19:10:43ZWhen you have a baby, can you stay friends with people who don’t have kids?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550471/original/file-20230927-29-89t418.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C15%2C5262%2C3481&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/crop-mother-with-sleepy-baby-in-arms-6957501/">Helena Lopes/Pexels</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>If you have a baby, does this mean you can’t be friends anymore with your child-free friends? </p>
<p>In a high-profile <a href="https://www.thecut.com/article/adult-friendships-vs-kids.html">article</a> for New Yorker magazine in September, journalist Allison Davis wrote about a “slow-rolling tectonic shift that neither side notices at first (especially the parents)”. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>It becomes us vs. them. On one side: People With Kids (PWIKS: frazzled, distracted, boring, rigid, covered in spit-up; can’t talk about movies, only about how they wish they had time to see them). And on the other: People Without Kids (PWOKS: self-absorbed, entitled, attention whores, grumpy about life’s inconveniences even though their life is easy). </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Davis also refers to <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/26332185?seq=22">a 2017 Dutch study</a> which found a decline in contact with friends after having children. This decline was greater the earlier in life parents had their children. </p>
<p>TikTok is <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/search?q=lose%20friends%20after%20kids%20&t=1695858811125">full of similar stories</a>, painting children as friendship-enders. </p>
<p>Why is this so? And is there a way to protect against this? </p>
<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-931" class="tc-infographic" height="400px" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/931/2ac2773b2518eaad02d97c372bb603094c6a3af4/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>A baby is a huge change</h2>
<p>Having a baby is a <a href="https://nobaproject.com/modules/the-developing-parent#authors">new life stage</a> like no other. Not only does pregnancy come with a new surge in hormones but parenthood also brings a <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27321714/">great deal of uncertainty</a> with it. </p>
<p>When we find ourselves in such a state, we often <a href="https://www.cope.org.au/new-parents/first-weeks/">look for an anchor</a> – to help create a sense of control. So new parents can turn to other parents who have similar-aged babies. </p>
<p>This can quickly create an in-group/out-group and friends without babies can soon feel part of the latter. They don’t have any baby sleep, poo or feeding stories to share, and this lack of a shared experience and understanding can impact the friendship. </p>
<p>Parents often have nothing left in the tank to give after a day of parenting. They are also simply not capable of doing some of the things they used to, such as staying out late or socialising without their children (without a lot of organisation). </p>
<p>The casual drop in is also no longer okay because the baby might be asleep and an unplanned visit could disrupt the routine.</p>
<p>Friends without kids can feel neglected without fully understanding that it is not about them. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman lies on a bed, holding a sleeping newborn." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550470/original/file-20230927-15-edx5uj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550470/original/file-20230927-15-edx5uj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550470/original/file-20230927-15-edx5uj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550470/original/file-20230927-15-edx5uj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550470/original/file-20230927-15-edx5uj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550470/original/file-20230927-15-edx5uj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550470/original/file-20230927-15-edx5uj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">New parents are exhausted and can’t party like they used to.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-woman-resting-on-the-bed-with-her-baby-on-top-6849528/">RDNE Stock Project/Pexels</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>There can be new sensitivities</h2>
<p>As Davis <a href="https://www.thecut.com/article/adult-friendships-vs-kids.html">also notes</a>, friends without children can also experience grief if they have been experiencing infertility. Under these circumstances, it can be really hard to be around women who are pregnant, or with a child when this is all that you want for your own family.</p>
<p>The business of having children, and the associated stress and uncertainty can also mean new parents don’t always know what they need and therefore can’t (or don’t) ask for it. Rather they tend to seek comfort and reassurance from other parents. </p>
<p>So expectations within a friendship can change – but this might not always be clearly communicated. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/bluey-casts-a-tender-light-on-being-childless-not-by-choice-heres-what-women-told-me-about-living-with-involuntary-childlessness-186912">Bluey casts a tender light on being childless not by choice. Here's what women told me about living with involuntary childlessness</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>How can you hold onto old friends?</h2>
<p>If old friendships are worth hanging onto, what can new parents do to help protect these relationships from the arrival of a baby? </p>
<p>First try to have the conversation before the baby arrives – there might be a change in the friendship but commit to talking about it. Talk about your worries and how you might approach things differently with a baby in the picture even if this might change. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two women sit on a bench at a bar, drinking and laughing." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550472/original/file-20230927-15-mnwu8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550472/original/file-20230927-15-mnwu8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550472/original/file-20230927-15-mnwu8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550472/original/file-20230927-15-mnwu8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550472/original/file-20230927-15-mnwu8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550472/original/file-20230927-15-mnwu8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550472/original/file-20230927-15-mnwu8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Having a baby means you are not as free to catch up as you once were.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/two-smiling-women-sitting-on-wooden-bench-1267696/">Elevate/Pexels</a></span>
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<p>When the baby arrives, be as clear as you can about what you need and where you are up to (for example, “I’m sorry I can’t have dinner, I’m totally exhausted, but I want to see you soon”).</p>
<p>Also keep trying to engage with your friend on their terms (at least sometimes!). You’re going through a big life event, but their life is still happening, so ask about their work, their issues and their family. </p>
<p>For friends without kids, offer to do something that makes life easier or more enjoyable: drop off meals, or leave supplies at the door. Show you understand their life has changed. Check when might be the best time to drop offer, send texts without expecting a quick reply. When the children are older, offer to babysit. </p>
<p>Also make an effort to show you are interested in the baby - buy a gift, ask how the baby is going. </p>
<p>The key is both sides of the friendship acknowledging there will be or has been a change – and that things may be tough and challenging. </p>
<p>But if you keep talking and keep trying to understand the other person’s needs, you will both still have a role in each other’s lives if you want one. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-how-philosophy-can-help-us-become-better-friends-200063">Friday essay: how philosophy can help us become better friends</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214277/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Catherine E. Wood does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Parents often have nothing left in the tank to give after a day of parenting. So friends without kids can feel neglected without fully understanding it is not about them.Catherine E. Wood, Associate Professor and Clinical Psychologist, Swinburne University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2143032023-10-05T15:14:59Z2023-10-05T15:14:59ZBaby formula preparation machines might not reach NHS recommended temperatures for killing bacteria – new research<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550876/original/file-20230928-21-25f2uo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=46%2C0%2C5184%2C3445&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The NHS recommends using water heated to at least 70C for mixing with formula powder.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/preparation-mixture-baby-feeding-on-white-556921537">279photo Studio/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When you have a new baby, it can feel as though there are suddenly thousands of things to worry about. One of the biggest concerns for parents in the early weeks is feeding.</p>
<p>Our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/mcn.13567">new study</a> has raised questions about one popular feeding device – the formula preparation machine. We found that only 15% of formula preparation machines tested dispensed water that appeared to be hot enough to meet NHS recommendations for preparing baby formula. In comparison, a majority of samples prepared using a kettle did meet the recommended temperature.<br>
Almost <a href="https://doc.ukdataservice.ac.uk/doc/7281/mrdoc/pdf/7281_ifs-uk-2010_report.pdf">three quarters</a> of babies in the UK receive some formula in the first six weeks after birth. This goes up to 88% within the first six months. Infant formula comes ready to drink in bottles and powdered, which parents need to mix with very hot water. Around <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/59f75004f09ca48694070f3b/t/6053645514d0f3072adec94e/1616077909798/Marketing_of_infant_milk_in_the_UK-what_do_parents_see_and_believe_finala.pdf">80%</a> of parents who use formula use a powdered version at least half the time.</p>
<p>NHS guidance states that formula should be prepared using a kettle <a href="https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/baby/breastfeeding-and-bottle-feeding/bottle-feeding/making-up-baby-formula/">to boil</a> 1 litre of water, leaving the water to cool for no more than 30 minutes before adding it to the formula. This is so that it remains at a temperature of at least 70C when it is mixed with the powder. This is needed to <a href="https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241595414">kill any bacteria</a>. </p>
<h2>Formula preparation machines</h2>
<p>In recent years, a range of formula preparation machines have been sold in the UK. Some dispense a small amount of hot water to which powder should be added, the bottle shaken and then the bottle topped up with cold water. Other machines dispense prepared formula in to a bottle. Our past <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/59f75004f09ca48694070f3b/t/6053645514d0f3072adec94e/1616077909798/Marketing_of_infant_milk_in_the_UK-what_do_parents_see_and_believe_finala.pdf">research</a> suggests that more than half of parents use a formula preparation machine. </p>
<p>Some <a href="https://www.southtees.nhs.uk/services/maternity/infant-feeding/formula-feeding/">NHS trusts</a> (as well as the <a href="https://www2.hse.ie/babies-children/bottle-feeding/preparing-baby-formula/#:%7E:text=The%20Food%20Safety%20Authority%20of,for%20preparing%20your%20baby's%20bottle.">Irish government</a>), have stated that parents should not use these machines to prepare formula, due to there being problems with these devices that could lead to babies becoming unwell. This may be based on concerns that the water may not remain at a <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/59f75004f09ca48694070f3b/t/5f58858c11457f399bae4a61/1599636878436/Bacterial_contamination_Aug20.pdf">hot enough temperature</a> to kill any bacteria in the powder. This matters because it increases the risk of gastrointestinal infection. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man feeds a baby with a bottle." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550878/original/file-20230928-27-d1ixap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550878/original/file-20230928-27-d1ixap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550878/original/file-20230928-27-d1ixap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550878/original/file-20230928-27-d1ixap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550878/original/file-20230928-27-d1ixap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550878/original/file-20230928-27-d1ixap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550878/original/file-20230928-27-d1ixap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">shutterstock.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/family-parenthood-people-concept-close-father-1152717200">Ground Picture/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Formula-fed babies are <a href="https://www.unicef.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2012/11/Preventing_disease_saving_resources.pdf">more likely</a> to get bacterial gastrointestinal infections than breastfed babies. There are two main ways that bacteria can get into formula. Firstly, powdered formula itself cannot be made sterile because of how it is manufactured, meaning it can get <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/cronobacter/infection-and-infants.html#:%7E:text=Powdered%20formula%20is%20not%20sterile,processing%20facilities%20that%20make%20it.">contaminated</a>. This means that a brand new, unopened tub of formula <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/59f75004f09ca48694070f3b/t/624edeb6873c47686bd34825/1649335991943/Bacterial+contamination_April+22.pdf">can contain</a> harmful bacteria such as <em>Salmonella</em> and <em>Cronobacter</em>. </p>
<p>Secondly, bacteria can be introduced into the formula in the home <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-46181-0">by parents</a> or carers if they do not wash their hands or adequately sterilise all feeding equipment before making a bottle.</p>
<p>Using water boiled in a kettle and cooled to above 70C <a href="https://iris.who.int/bitstream/handle/10665/43659/9789241595414_eng.pdf?isAllowed=y&sequence=1">kills</a> harmful bacteria that cause gastrointestinal infections. Because of this, it is the only method of preparing formula which is currently <a href="https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/baby/breastfeeding-and-bottle-feeding/bottle-feeding/making-up-baby-formula/">recommended</a> by the NHS.</p>
<p>However, <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/59f75004f09ca48694070f3b/t/6053645514d0f3072adec94e/1616077909798/Marketing_of_infant_milk_in_the_UK-what_do_parents_see_and_believe_finala.pdf">we found</a> that many parents do not feel confident about preparing bottles of formula safely.</p>
<h2>What we found</h2>
<p>We asked 143 parents to test the temperature of the water they used to prepare a bottle of formula at home. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/mcn.13567">We found</a> that only 15% of the 74 infant formula preparation machines tested appeared to produce water that reached NHS recommended temperatures for preparing bottles of formula.</p>
<p>But among the parents in our study who used a kettle to make up their formula, 78% of temperatures reported were above the recommended NHS level. </p>
<p>This is concerning, as temperatures below 70C can be harmful to babies’ health, and also given such a high number of parents use formula preparation machines. </p>
<h2>Advice</h2>
<p>If you are formula feeding, more information and support about preparing bottles is available on the <a href="https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/baby/breastfeeding-and-bottle-feeding/bottle-feeding/making-up-baby-formula/">NHS website</a>. The NHS guide recommends using a kettle to boil the water.</p>
<p>The Food Standards Agency (FSA) <a href="https://www.swansea.ac.uk/press-office/news-events/news/2023/10/study-raises-concerns-over-powdered-infant-formula-preparation-machines.php">recommend</a> that if you already have a formula preparation machine, you use a food thermometer to test the temperature of the water it produces. If you do this, do not put the thermometer into the bottle that you use to feed your baby, as the thermometer could introduce bacteria, so you will need to do this separately to making a bottle. </p>
<p>If your thermometer shows the water is below 70C, the machine should not be used to prepare bottles of formula and you should use a kettle instead. The FSA recommend that parents should notify both the manufacturer and their <a href="https://www.gov.uk/find-local-trading-standards-office">local trading standards</a> department or <a href="https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/">Citizens Advice</a>. </p>
<p>We have shared our results with the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/office-for-product-safety-and-standards">Office for Product Safety and Standards</a>, the UK’s product safety regulator, who have purchased examples of formula preparation machines to assess compliance. We have also shared our findings with the <a href="https://www.food.gov.uk/">FSA</a>, who safeguard public health and protect consumers in relation to food across the UK.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214303/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Aimee Grant receives funding from UKRI and the Wellcome Trust. She has previously received funding from the NIHR, HEFCW, and public health charities. Aimee is affiliated with Disability Wales. The Finding the Formula study, which is reported on in this article, was funded by UKRI and the Food Standards Agency. We wish to thank Dr Vicky Sibson, Dr Rebecca Ellis, Abbie Dolling, Tara McNamara, Jonie Cooper, Susan Dvorak, Sharon Breward, Phyll Buchanan and Dr Emma Yhnell who were also part of the study team, and the parents who provided data for this study.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amy Brown has received research funding from UKRI, HEFCW, Infant feeding charities, local councils, health trusts and Public Health Wales. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sara Jones was paid for her time as a study manager from the UKRI funding for this project. She has also received funding from MRC and infant feeding charities.</span></em></p>New research finds that 85% of formula preparation machines tested were dispensing water that did not appear to reach NHS recommended temperatures for preparing bottles of formula.Aimee Grant, Senior Lecturer in Public Health and Wellcome Trust Career Development Fellow, Swansea UniversityAmy Brown, Professor of Child Public Health, Swansea UniversitySara Jones, Senior lecturer at Lactation and Infant Feeding Translational research centre, Swansea UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2137842023-09-25T10:38:26Z2023-09-25T10:38:26Z‘Mum-shaming’ of Sophie Turner is part of a problem that harms all parents<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549602/original/file-20230921-27-l8ugp9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=134%2C80%2C5856%2C3979&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The high-profile divorce of Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner is sparking discussions about mum-shaming.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/new-york-ny-may-3-2022-2153471465">lev radin/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Like many celebrity divorces, the split of Sophie Turner and singer Joe Jonas has been accompanied by a flurry of rumours. It was reported that the breakup happened because the Game of Thrones actress “<a href="https://www.tmz.com/2023/09/05/joe-jonas-files-divorce-sophie-turner-split-children-joint-custody/">likes to party</a>” whereas “he likes to stay at home”.</p>
<p>There has been a swift backlash to this speculation. Commentators from <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-commentary/sophie-turner-joe-jonas-divorce-motherhood-misogyny-media-gossip-1234820043/">Rolling Stone</a>, <a href="https://www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/article/joe-jonas-sophie-turner-divorce-mum-shaming">Glamour</a>, <a href="https://www.vogue.co.uk/article/sophie-turner-mum-shaming">Vogue</a>, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0gcftw0">Radio 4 Women’s Hour</a> and others have denounced the rumours as misogyny and “mum-shaming”.</p>
<p>It is not surprising that these comments hit a nerve. Many mothers (and other parents, such as non-binary parents who are <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/06/15/1006183612/the-natural-mother-of-the-child-non-binary-parenthood">seen as mothers</a>), far less famous than Turner, have had their own experiences of shaming. </p>
<p>The parents who make use of childcare and hear comments like: “Why do people have children when they don’t mean to raise them?” Or the observation that you are “so lucky” that the father of your children has agreed to “babysit” so you can attend work drinks. This was evident in the Turner-Jonas discourse too, with Jonas painted as caring for the couple’s children “<a href="https://www.tmz.com/2023/09/05/joe-jonas-files-divorce-sophie-turner-split-children-joint-custody">pretty much all of the time</a>” in recent months.</p>
<p>The practice of mum-shaming – criticising mothers for their parenting styles or choices – is <a href="https://www.vox.com/2019/4/23/18508136/pregnancy-mothers-moms-babies-advice-quinlan-johnson">centuries old</a>. In 1762, philosopher <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emile,_or_On_Education">Jean-Jacques Rousseau</a> held women who did “deign to breastfeed their children” responsible for all society’s problems. <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-56890264">Social media</a> has made it easier to shame mothers from behind a screen.</p>
<p>My work in the philosophy of pregnancy, birth and early parenthood tries to understand why all this happens. I identify <a href="https://jme.bmj.com/content/43/8/515">mistakes in society’s thinking about motherhood</a> and show how they contribute to the pressure that <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-philosophy-can-help-mothers-avoid-judgment-guilt-and-shame-196975">mothers experience</a>. </p>
<p>There is a gendered <a href="https://cupofjo.com/2022/02/07/have-you-seen-this-viral-comic-about-parenting-double-standards">double standard</a> inherent in many mum-shaming comments, where fathers are likely to be praised for parenting that would be seen as the bare minimum for a mother. </p>
<p>But fathers can also suffer from assumptions that they are not capable of caring for their children. This may well contribute to barriers to men taking time off work for <a href="https://www.vwv.co.uk/news-and-events/blog/employment-law-brief/shared-parental-leave-scheme-reform">caring responsibilities</a>.</p>
<h2>The conflicting ideals of motherhood</h2>
<p>Depictions of motherhood in popular culture often communicate the idea that the mother who sacrifices everything for her children is the best kind of mother. Like many aspects of parent shaming, there is a contradiction here: mothers who don’t work are often looked down on, as are mothers who work “too much”.</p>
<p>Petra Bueskens, an expert in motherhood, psychoanalysis and social and political theory, argues that modern mothers are caught between two conflicting ideals of individual freedom and self-sacrificing motherhood. </p>
<p>And these ideals <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Modern-Motherhood-and-Womens-Dual-Identities-Rewriting-the-Sexual-Contract/Bueskens/p/book/9780367460129#">depend on one another</a>: the original free individuals were men, who were able to be free precisely because their wives and mothers were taking on all caring responsibilities. Women claimed equality with men as individuals, but the expectations of motherhood remained.</p>
<p>Despite the problems she identifies, Bueskens’ conclusion is hopeful. Her book contains case studies of mothers finding ways to navigate the contradictions between freedom and care. Bueskens even argues that recognition of these contradictions might transform society. </p>
<p>What’s more, sacrifice by mothers is seen as a good thing for their children. But this might not be true. </p>
<h2>Respecting mothers’ choices</h2>
<p>I’m a bit wary of justifying women’s choices by appealing to the positive effect on their children. If women matter in their own right, then we should not need to do this. Having said that, claiming your own identity does send a positive message to your children, especially if those children are girls. </p>
<p>Research suggests that <a href="https://journalistsresource.org/economics/working-mother-employment-research/">having a mother who works can have long-term benefits for children</a>. It is also important to tell our children that mothers are entitled to have interests that aren’t either family or work-related. </p>
<p>As outside observers – and even other parents – we must notice and be very suspicious of inclinations to judge individual mothers. We should ask ourselves whether we would react the same way to a father. If not, it is possible that we are being influenced by these unfair ideas about motherhood. </p>
<p>Parents are also likely to be judged even more harshly if they do not <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/mothers-mothering-and-motherhood-across-cultural-differences-a-reader/oclc/876425204">fit the image</a> of a “typical” or “good” mother or father, such as parents who are <a href="https://www.stylist.co.uk/life/judge-women-when-choose-have-baby-children-44-old-motherhood-delayed-child-free-survey-janet-jackson/64226">older</a>, <a href="https://cafemom.com/parenting/208911-people-judging-young-moms">younger</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/feb/19/i-did-not-expect-motherhood-to-legitimise-me-parenting-with-a-disability">disabled</a> or <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/racism-parenting_uk_5dfcaf38e4b0843d35fa3b72">from an ethnic minority</a>.</p>
<p>Ideally, I would like to help improve the way society treats parents. In the meantime, it can be helpful for parents to recognise their individual experiences as part of a larger pattern. This can help them feel less alone and to make informed decisions about how to respond.</p>
<p>Getting the balance right between our own needs and our children’s needs is tricky. Stopping mum-shaming is just the start.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213784/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Fiona Woollard was part of the Better Understanding the Metaphysics of Pregnancy (BUMP) project funded by European Research Council. She has also received funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council; the Economic and Social Research Council (through the University of Southampton ESRC Impact Acceleration Account); the Southampton Ethics Centre and the Mind Association. </span></em></p>Young parents and others who don’t fit the ‘ideal’ of parenthood are especially vulnerable.Fiona Woollard, Professor of Philosophy, University of SouthamptonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2137702023-09-20T06:06:23Z2023-09-20T06:06:23ZThe social lives of kangaroos are more complex than we thought<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549238/original/file-20230920-21-193qnr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1126%2C406%2C1429%2C969&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Terry Ord</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Have you ever wondered what a kangaroo’s social life looks like? Well, kangaroos have stronger bonds to one another than you might think. </p>
<p>Over six years, we monitored a population of around 130 eastern grey kangaroos near Wollar in New South Wales to see how their relationships changed over time. Keeping tabs on individual roos led to some surprising results. </p>
<p>We found that kangaroo mothers become more social when caring for joeys (which is the opposite of what we previously thought). We also uncovered new evidence that indicates kangaroos could potentially form long-term relationships. </p>
<p>This research, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003347223001999#bib78">published in Animal Behaviour</a>, sheds new light on the behaviour of Australia’s most iconic animal. </p>
<h2>How to watch kangaroos</h2>
<p>Eastern grey kangaroos (<em>Macropus giganteus</em>) are found throughout the eastern third of Australia, and they are extremely social animals. </p>
<p>If you’re lucky enough to have some living near you, you’ll notice they are rarely alone. What you might not notice is how often their small groups (called mobs) fluctuate throughout the day. </p>
<p>Kangaroos have a loose “<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003347213004089">fission–fusion</a>” social structure, which means mobs often split and reform. Knowing this, we wanted to see just how strong kangaroo relationships actually are, and how these relationships changed over several years. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549244/original/file-20230920-17-ybhlcd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A photo of a kangaroo with a joey in her pouch" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549244/original/file-20230920-17-ybhlcd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549244/original/file-20230920-17-ybhlcd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549244/original/file-20230920-17-ybhlcd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549244/original/file-20230920-17-ybhlcd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549244/original/file-20230920-17-ybhlcd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549244/original/file-20230920-17-ybhlcd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549244/original/file-20230920-17-ybhlcd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Individual kangaroos can be identified by the distinctive shapes of their ears.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Terry Ord</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To find out, we spent a few days each year taking photographs of every single kangaroo in our study population. We then used these photographs (all 3,546 of them!) to individually identify each kangaroo. </p>
<p>The best way to tell kangaroos apart (for humans) is the unique shape of their ears, because both the outline of the ears and the inner ear tufts remain very similar throughout the years. New scars can change the overall ear shape, but we were careful to watch out for those. </p>
<p>Using this method, we identified 130 individual kangaroos. We then looked at which kangaroos appeared next to each other in the same photograph to get an idea of what their social groups looked like. </p>
<p>We also gave each kangaroo a social score based on how many other kangaroos they associated with and how “popular” these associates were. </p>
<h2>Suprising sociability</h2>
<p>There are usually a couple of difficulties in this sort of long-term animal study, such as identifying individual animals and being able to follow the same population over several years. These problems are easily avoided with kangaroos, as our photographic survey let us identify animals <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/9/5/244">without invasive tagging</a>, and they tend to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003347213005654">return to the same place</a> every day.</p>
<p>We could easily look at the short-term and long-term relationships of each kangaroo, as well as how these relationships varied with sex, age and reproduction.</p>
<p>Looking at sociability on an individual level produced some surprising results. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/animal-friendships-are-surprisingly-like-our-own-188120">Animal friendships are surprisingly like our own</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>We discovered some kangaroos were just <a href="https://academic.oup.com/beheco/article/26/2/639/259438?login=false">more social than others</a>. In some this was consistent, and in others it changed from year to year.</p>
<p>In fact, we found female kangaroos tended to be much more social in years when they had joeys. This is quite different from <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003347213005654">earlier research</a>, which suggested kangaroos actually tend to isolate from the rest of the population when they become mothers. </p>
<p>What we think is happening here is that, while mothers tend to spend time in smaller groups (which is what other studies have shown), those groups change often. As a result, mothers associate with more other kangaroos in total – which would account for their high social scores. </p>
<p>So kangaroos’ loose social structure allows them to adjust their sociability with their reproductive state. </p>
<h2>Long-term friendships?</h2>
<p>However, the fact the social structure is loose doesn’t mean it is simple. We found kangaroo relationships might be far more complex than previously thought. </p>
<p>Some of our kangaroos maintained friendships across multiple years, a phenomenon that was particularly common among females. Kangaroos that were more “popular” – as determined by the social score we calculated – were far more likely to have these friendships.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549245/original/file-20230920-17-rq3tla.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A photo of several kangaroos" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549245/original/file-20230920-17-rq3tla.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549245/original/file-20230920-17-rq3tla.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549245/original/file-20230920-17-rq3tla.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549245/original/file-20230920-17-rq3tla.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549245/original/file-20230920-17-rq3tla.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549245/original/file-20230920-17-rq3tla.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549245/original/file-20230920-17-rq3tla.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Like other large herbivores, kangaroos may form long-term relationships.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Terry Ord</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This is the first evidence for long-term relationships in macropods (the animal family that includes kangaroos as well as wallabies, quokkas and others). However, long-term relationships are common in other large, social herbivores such as <a href="https://bmcecol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1472-6785-11-17">elephants</a>, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003347213003539">giraffes</a> and <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/oik.09511">ibex</a>. </p>
<p>We only looked at the kangaroos for a short time each year. To find out whether they really do form long-term relationships, we will need to do more research. However, we have shown such relationships are a possibility, which is itself a very exciting development in the study of kangaroo behaviour.</p>
<h2>The importance of social organisation</h2>
<p>So what’s next? The study of animal behaviour is constantly changing and there’s always lots more we can learn. </p>
<p>We have shown the benefits of looking at animal populations on an individual level, not just a species level. With this in mind, future research should investigate the existence of long-term relationships in kangaroos, as well as why female kangaroos might deliberately increase their sociability when they become mothers. </p>
<p>We often underestimate the importance of social organisation in animals. Further research into kangaroo behaviour can help us better appreciate the intelligence and social complexity of our favourite marsupials.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/mother-roos-endanger-health-for-joeys-2219">Mother roos endanger health for joeys</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213770/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nora Campbell receives funding from the Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship (RTP) at the University of New South Wales (UNSW). Funding for this research was provided by the School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences (BEES) and the Science Faculty at UNSW. </span></em></p>New research shows kangaroos may form long-term friendships.Nora Campbell, PhD Candidate, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2109782023-09-03T20:02:44Z2023-09-03T20:02:44Z‘You are left flailing to try and look after yourself’: the music industry still constrains mothers’ careers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542717/original/file-20230815-29-juqnr7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=28%2C7%2C4680%2C3127&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Women participate in Australia’s music industries – as musicians and workers – at <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/triplej/programs/hack/by-the-numbers-2019-the-gender-gap-in-australian-music-revealed/10879066">rates well below men</a>. On average, women receive less airplay on Australian radio, less pay and less representation on music boards, awards and line-ups <a href="https://ses.library.usyd.edu.au/bitstream/handle/2123/21257/Skipping-a-Beat_FINAL_210717.pdf">than their male counterparts</a>.</p>
<p>Understanding why women might leave their music careers and what could bring them back is an important part of solving the puzzle to increase their participation.</p>
<p>We recently conducted <a href="https://www.encoremusiccareers.org/">a study</a> aimed at developing strategies to help women and gender-non-conforming people in Victoria return to music work after a career break. </p>
<p>One key finding – unsurprisingly – was that caring responsibilities and parenthood were common reasons for women taking a break. These responsibilities then create barriers to re-establishing careers and career progression in music.</p>
<p>This, of course, is <a href="https://theconversation.com/returning-to-work-after-childbirth-still-a-case-of-managing-it-all-34048">not unique to music work</a>. Women take on the <a href="https://theconversation.com/four-home-traps-that-contribute-to-the-gender-pay-gap-122261">majority of caring work</a> for children. It means they take longer away from their careers, and are more likely to return on a part-time basis. This leaves them at a disadvantage compared to men who have had no career interruptions. </p>
<p>But there are particular circumstances in the music industry that create complications and problems specific to this field, compounding the disadvantage new parents face in any workplace and compounding the issues of insecure work in music. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/returning-to-work-after-childbirth-still-a-case-of-managing-it-all-34048">Returning to work after childbirth: still a case of 'managing it all'</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Unsociable social hours</h2>
<p>The culture of music has been built around its role in the entertainment industries. Gigs are often held late at night, and the consumption of alcohol (and possibly other drugs) is central to many music scenes.</p>
<p>Even music with a more conservative image, like classical, is still performed outside normal working hours.</p>
<p>As one person we interviewed said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I really had to start reinventing my world because as a single mum I couldn’t do a nighttime life, I couldn’t. I couldn’t afford babysitters, and your job is to parent. So the whole nighttime scenario was – I could occasionally get out, but I couldn’t have a career with gigs and rehearsals after hours.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Even when respondents could afford childcare, they told us the hours on offer do not match with when they are needed.</p>
<p>This separation of music performance from “everyday life” and domesticity means industry structures, such as venues and booking agents, often overlook basic accommodations for women with caring responsibilities. </p>
<p>One respondent said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Touring is really, really difficult with a child because venues often don’t provide you with accommodation or green rooms or anywhere you can change a nappy or put a child down. You have to have a carer on tour with you to make that work and women with families manage that but it’s the exception, not the rule.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Another interviewee told us they had become sick with mastitis because of a lack of places to breastfeed or express. </p>
<h2>Irregular work puts mothers off beat</h2>
<p>The literal gig economy of music means not having regular hours, which makes planning financially and organisationally difficult.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It’s not an office job where you know you’re working nine to five, five days a week, and those hours are set for the whole year. I mean it can be very flexible but at the same time there’s that unpredictability [which] can be really hard with arranging childcare or additional hours.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This unpredictability and informal nature mean a lack of structures protecting workers. Often working as sole traders or on short-term contracts, women have little recourse if they face discrimination because of their parenting status, if they are underpaid, or if they face harassment. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542719/original/file-20230815-29045-hxlum9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Toddler distracts their parent from recording music." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542719/original/file-20230815-29045-hxlum9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542719/original/file-20230815-29045-hxlum9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542719/original/file-20230815-29045-hxlum9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542719/original/file-20230815-29045-hxlum9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542719/original/file-20230815-29045-hxlum9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542719/original/file-20230815-29045-hxlum9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542719/original/file-20230815-29045-hxlum9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Women have little recourse if they face discrimination because of their parenting status.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For some women, the combination of these factors means parenting and a music career are just not compatible:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>There’s been times where I’ve just gone, ‘I’m just going to take a regular job where I get sick pay and holiday pay and carer’s leave, and where I can take time off to look after my kid during the school holidays, because I’m a single parent and no one else is going to do it.’ So many roles in the music industry are self-employed, and you are left flailing to try and look after yourself.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In an industry where women and gender-non-conforming people are already facing <a href="https://musicindustryreview.com.au/">sexism, harassment and ageism</a>, parenthood can be the final straw. </p>
<p>For others, seeing how hard parenting is in music might lead them to delay having children, or not have them at all. </p>
<h2>Making music work more accessible</h2>
<p>Music industry employers and workers offered several suggestions to improve the conditions for parents in the music industry. </p>
<p>The new Centre for Arts and Entertainment Workplaces may help mothers assert their rights <a href="https://theconversation.com/pay-safety-and-welfare-how-the-new-centre-for-arts-and-entertainment-workplaces-can-strengthen-the-arts-sector-198859">within music workplaces</a>. </p>
<p>Grant schemes should provide a way to account for care-giving, including facilitating children being taken on tour. Funding quiet infant-feeding rooms and safe, flexible and affordable childcare options would send the message women with children are valued. </p>
<p>Participants told us they needed employers to be more understanding about career gaps and to provide paid parental leave beyond government requirements.</p>
<p>Working to change the culture of the music industry so women with children are not treated as a novelty would help retain the talent of many who struggle to balance caring and music work. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/pay-safety-and-welfare-how-the-new-centre-for-arts-and-entertainment-workplaces-can-strengthen-the-arts-sector-198859">Pay, safety and welfare: how the new Centre for Arts and Entertainment Workplaces can strengthen the arts sector</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Community is key</h2>
<p>Our key takeaways were about the importance of personal relationships.</p>
<p>Participants told us rebuilding connections and networks in the music industry after a career break – or maintaining them during the break – was central to being able to restart careers. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542720/original/file-20230815-29-g9d7ql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An infant feeds." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542720/original/file-20230815-29-g9d7ql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542720/original/file-20230815-29-g9d7ql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542720/original/file-20230815-29-g9d7ql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542720/original/file-20230815-29-g9d7ql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542720/original/file-20230815-29-g9d7ql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542720/original/file-20230815-29-g9d7ql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542720/original/file-20230815-29-g9d7ql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Music grants should take into account the need to provide space for breastfeeding.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Networks are fundamental to <a href="https://search.informit.org/doi/abs/10.3316/informit.181562227954777">building strong music careers</a>. For women trying to shape careers around the constraints of motherhood, having people who had been, or were in, the same situation made them feel supported and gave them creative ideas about how to solve problems. Formal and informal mentorships were highly valued.</p>
<p>People in our study had formed connections with one another and were resolved to develop their careers. But opportunities for building bridges back into the music industry are still constrained. </p>
<p>Ongoing activism, community-building and initiatives focused on bringing parents (and others who take career breaks) back into music work are essential for diverse and thriving music cities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210978/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Catherine Strong received funding from the National Careers Institute for this study. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Fabian Cannizzo received funding from the National Careers Institue for this study.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shelley Brunt received funding from the National Careers Institute for this study.</span></em></p>Caring responsibilities and parenthood are common reasons for women in music taking a break. These responsibilities then create barriers to re-establishing careers and career progression.Catherine Strong, Associate professor, Music Industry, RMIT UniversityFabian Cannizzo, Research Fellow, Monash UniversityShelley Brunt, Senior Lecturer, Music Industry, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1923382023-08-30T13:39:00Z2023-08-30T13:39:00Z‘Motherhood is hard’: young, HIV-positive mums in South Africa open up about regret and anger<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489318/original/file-20221012-22-szjlec.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Women aren't often given space to discuss the difficult aspects of motherhood.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">fizkes/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>For any woman, pregnancy and giving birth are major life-changing experiences. Becoming a mother brings with it a range of emotions and, in <a href="https://www.africaknowledgeproject.org/index.php/jenda/article/view/92">many African cultures</a>, positive emotions are centred when talking about motherhood. </p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?hl=en-US&publication_year=2016&author=O.+Oyewumi&title=What+gender+is+motherhood%3A+Changing+Yoruba+ideals+of+power%2C+procreation%2C+and+identity+in+the+age+of+modernity">Scholarship</a> from the eastern, western and southern parts of the continent has <a href="https://www.africaknowledgeproject.org/index.php/jenda/article/view/92">emphasised</a> how motherhood is linked to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139344333">notions</a> of continuity, strength and sacrifice, unconditional love, consecration and spirituality, family ties, loyalty and happiness.</p>
<p>In many African cultures, mothers are expected to be resilient, happy and tenacious. But what about the often “silenced” aspect of motherhood? Generally, mothers are not expected or encouraged to share any <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/678145">negative emotions about their experiences and role</a>. Those who defy this expectation are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0743558420945182">frequently stigmatised</a> and labelled “bad mothers”. </p>
<p>These responses often arise from the belief that motherhood is life’s key purpose. Seen through this societal lens, becoming a mother ought to be fulfilling and overwhelmingly positive.</p>
<p>But human emotions are complex. People can experience joy and sadness simultaneously. This is underscored by <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/2158244019848802">our study</a> among HIV-positive mothers in South Africa about their experiences of motherhood. These young women, aged between 16 and 24, told us how they grappled with harsh realities and daily challenges. </p>
<p>They expressed regret about their unplanned experience of motherhood and wished their circumstances were different. It was clear they were experiencing conflicting internal emotions as they considered the roles, responsibilities and difficulties of motherhood. </p>
<p>Such negative emotions – especially regret – are seldom expressed when talking about motherhood. This leaves little room for African mothers to be vulnerable. To change this ideology and practice, safe space must be created for these feelings. </p>
<p>Doing so can promote open, honest and non-judgmental discussions that will lead to changes in the narratives surrounding motherhood, influence practices and boost emotional, mental and physical health. It can allow mothers and their children to thrive and be better equipped with the necessary skills to face life, irrespective of their challenges.</p>
<h2>Motherhood is hard</h2>
<p>We conducted one-on-one, in-depth interviews with ten HIV-positive mothers in Johannesburg, South Africa. The women all became mothers when they were adolescents. Their children’s ages ranged from two months to seven years old. We also interviewed three key stakeholders who, through their work as academics and researchers and in the healthcare field, engaged closely with adolescent mothers and HIV-positive individuals in South Africa.</p>
<p>None of the young mothers had planned to become pregnant. They were dealing with intersecting psychological, socioeconomic, health, cultural and physiological dynamics. They were stepping into new, unknown realities: as young mothers, some still had school responsibilities. Others were unemployed, <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.UEM.1524.FE.ZS?locations=ZA">as is the case</a> for most adolescent girls and young women aged between 15 and 24 in South Africa. They depended financially on others such as their grandmothers, the government’s monthly child support grant, or transactional sex partners. </p>
<p>Their HIV status created another layer of complexity due to the attached health responsibilities, stigma and shame. Apart from the <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2791450#:%7E:text=In%202019%2C%20an%20estimated%2070,aged%2020%20to%2024%20years.">high susceptibility</a> of adolescent girls to unplanned pregnancy and HIV infection in South Africa, another important reason for working with this group of mothers was to give voice to their experience and to possibly inform relevant policies.</p>
<h2>No judgment</h2>
<p>We created a safe, non-judgmental space in which the young women could share their feelings, both positive and negative. At least half of the participants told us that this was the first time they’d felt able to freely narrate their experiences, especially negative feelings about the experience of motherhood. Away from the pressure of cultural beliefs and expectations, they opened up. </p>
<p>The most prominent emotions they expressed were negative: specifically, they felt regret and anger. Their reflections were sometimes painful. One said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I will always feel like I robbed myself of my childhood, and at times I will resent my child. I would hit my child so badly, and even though she couldn’t hear what I was saying but I will always tell her that I regret being with her.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Another told us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I don’t know whether it was worth it, but I know maybe I could have prevented it … I wish I had known how difficult it was to actually be a mother.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This is a powerful negation of society’s notion that the moment a woman becomes a mother, she has access to knowledge and systems that enable her to maintain the image of <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/678145">“the good mother”</a>. The notion that the fear and doubt will be pushed aside and only positive emotions will dominate is simply false.</p>
<p>Most of the mothers also shared the joy and rewarding feelings of having their children. One stated that: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>… at first I was scared, but now I am happy because I look at her and she inspires me a lot … now I am seeing life in another way … with the support of my aunt and friends, I feel better.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Another said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>… it is good to see my baby laughing, happy, playing, very nice … like it is very (long pause) … it is beautiful … I like him smiling cos I’m like I can no longer imagine my life without my son (laughs).</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Freedom and support</h2>
<p>It’s time to shift the conversation from conventional and rigid constructions of motherhood to a more open, inclusive picture across Africa. </p>
<p>This will do more than just give mothers the freedom to express the full range of their emotions about motherhood: it can also contribute to more inclusive, tailored policies and programmes that take into account the many complexities and dilemmas our participants spoke about. </p>
<p>These might include access to need-specific, supportive, non-judgmental counsellors and therapists, and increased peer mentorship programmes, as well as access to sexual and reproductive health information and career support programmes.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/192338/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Morolake Josephine Adeagbo does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Negative emotions, especially regret, are seldom expressed when talking about motherhood.Morolake Josephine Adeagbo, Senior Research Associate, University of JohannesburgLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2061522023-08-21T11:19:07Z2023-08-21T11:19:07ZShared parental leave has failed because it doesn’t make financial or emotional sense<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540474/original/file-20230801-25-b25rj7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1732%2C30%2C5144%2C3226&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/vietnamese-young-father-feeding-his-baby-371031866">Dragon Images/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When <a href="https://www.gov.uk/shared-parental-leave-and-pay">shared parental leave</a> was introduced in 2015 in the UK, the then Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government described it as a “<a href="https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2013-02-25/debates/13022511000001/ChildrenAndFamiliesBill?highlight=jo%20swinson%20radical#contribution-13022511000467">radical</a>” policy, suitable for modern <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/82969/12-1267-modern-workplaces-response-flexible-parental-leave.pdf">lives and workplaces</a>. </p>
<p>By allowing parents to share up to 50 weeks of leave in the first year of their child’s life, it was vaunted as a way to encourage fathers to bond with their babies and enable mothers to return to work sooner, helping to close the gender pay gap.</p>
<p>Eight years on, it’s hard to see shared parental leave as anything but a failure. We don’t know exactly what proportion of parents have used it over these eight years, but the number is certainly extremely low. </p>
<p>Figures for <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1166383/shared-parental-leave-evaluation-report-2023.pdf">children born between May and September 2017</a> show that just 1% of eligible mothers and 5% of eligible fathers took shared parental leave: the discrepancy coming from mothers taking maternity leave and leftover leave being claimed as shared parental leave by fathers. <a href="https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/documents/college-social-sciences/business/research/wirc/spl-policy-brief.pdf">Other research has found</a> that just over 1% of eligible parents took shared parental leave in 2017-18. And that’s not even 1% of all parents: some aren’t eligible for the benefit anyway.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, there is little data on whether shared parental leave has been taken up by same-sex parents. </p>
<h2>More responsibility</h2>
<p>The primary caregiver in a child’s first year tends to take on the bulk of parenting during that child’s formative years – and this is usually the mother. Shared parental leave was intended to challenge this by giving the secondary caregiver, usually the father, the chance to take on more responsibility from the beginning.</p>
<p>Research has shown that this can work. Shared parenting gives fathers more opportunities to <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6690499/">bond</a> with their babies which then <a href="https://doi.org/10.3138/jcfs.44.5.557">increases</a> their involvement in childcare as the child gets older. </p>
<p>But the way the policy was designed in the UK has left shared parental leave with plenty of downsides too. It requires mothers give up some of their maternity leave, which means they have less maternity leave overall. </p>
<p>The pay you receive (shared parental pay) is also a disadvantage. The first six weeks of maternity pay is 90% of the mother’s average earnings. Shared parental pay is <a href="https://www.gov.uk/shared-parental-leave-and-pay/what-youll-get">paid at a statutory rate</a>, currently less than half of <a href="https://checkyourpay.campaign.gov.uk/#are_you_23_or_over_">the living wage</a> (or 90% of the mother’s salary if it’s lower than this rate). This means that there’s no financial incentive for the mother to transfer her maternity leave within these first weeks. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Parents looking at bills" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540485/original/file-20230801-23-7lyfr9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540485/original/file-20230801-23-7lyfr9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540485/original/file-20230801-23-7lyfr9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540485/original/file-20230801-23-7lyfr9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540485/original/file-20230801-23-7lyfr9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540485/original/file-20230801-23-7lyfr9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540485/original/file-20230801-23-7lyfr9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Shared parental leave can cause financial headaches for parents.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/portrait-adult-couple-doing-paperwork-while-1601449429">SeventyFour/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And if the father or secondary partner earns more than the mother (often referred to as the “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0950017020946657">partner pay gap</a>” and the norm within the UK and other European countries), the financial costs of giving up that wage during shared parental leave are often insurmountable. This also true for couples where one partner is self-employed. Self-employed workers are <a href="https://www.unbiased.co.uk/discover/personal-finance/family/paternity-leave-pay-what-is-it-and-how-does-it-work#:%7E:text=What%20about%20self%2Demployed%20paternity,shared%20parental%20leave%20or%20pay.">not eligible</a> for shared parental leave (or statutory paternity leave). </p>
<p>My <a href="https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/838816">research</a> with parents of babies born in 2020 found that the financial implications and complexity of the policy discourages parents from using shared parental leave. </p>
<h2>Parents’ wishes</h2>
<p>But the problem with the policy goes deeper than this. The UK’s shared parental leave fails to take into account parents’ desires to spend as much time as possible with their children, especially in the early years. It was designed without considering how beliefs about who provides the “best parenting” can shape parental decisions. Mothers <a href="https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/black-mothers-and-attachment-parenting">are reluctant</a> to <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01442872.2019.1581160">sacrifice their time</a> with their child by sharing <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-42970-0_10">their parental leave</a>. </p>
<p>The overarching aim of shared parental leave was focused more on <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/82969/12-1267-modern-workplaces-response-flexible-parental-leave.pdf">helping the economy</a> – by keeping people in work or encouraging people to return to work – rather than on allowing parents to care for their child at home for as long as they wish. </p>
<p>Despite its imperfections, shared parental leave does provide families with some options that can be positive for both parents. But to really change societal dynamics around childcare and make caring responsibilities truly equal, we need policies that support children and parents and enable them to make the choices that work best for their families. </p>
<p>A good start would be to learn from places that have much higher rates of parental leave take-up, particularly where men take longer leave. These include <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-35225982">Sweden</a> and Quebec in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jun/15/the-daddy-quota-how-quebec-got-men-to-take-parental-leave">Canada</a>. The key to these and other successes has been individual entitlement. This means giving fathers and secondary caregivers an independent right to well-paid leave. </p>
<p>If the government truly want to give children <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/best-start-in-life-a-research-review-for-early-years">the best start in life</a>, it should to reconsider how we support parents. Their ability to spend time with their children should not be linked to their value as a worker or their contribution to the economy.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206152/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Patricia Hamilton's research was funded by a Marie Curie Individual Fellowship (838816).</span></em></p>Shared parental leave requires mothers to give up some of their maternity leave.Patricia Hamilton, Lecturer, University of YorkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2088912023-08-04T13:54:29Z2023-08-04T13:54:29ZWomen’s World Cup: what still needs to be done to improve the lot of elite female footballers<p>The <a href="https://www.fifa.com/fifaplus/en/tournaments/womens/womensworldcup/australia-new-zealand2023">Fifa Women’s World Cup</a> is just 32 years old and on its eighth official edition, while the men’s competition began 93 years ago and has enjoyed 22 tournaments.</p>
<p>After the success of the 2019 WWC in France, the women’s competition has progressed to new heights for 2023 in Australia and New Zealand. There are <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/49184181#:%7E:text=The%20Women%27s%20World%20Cup%20will%20increase%20from%2024,the%20process%20opens%20on%204%20October%20this%20year.">more teams than ever competing</a>, in front of the <a href="https://www.fifa.com/tournaments/womens/womensworldcup/australia-new-zealand2023/media-releases/fifa-womens-world-cup-2023-tm-breaks-new-records">biggest TV audiences</a>, with each player to be paid directly, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2023/jun/07/fifa-2023-womens-world-cup-australia-new-zealand-fee-payments">guaranteeing prize money for the first time</a>.</p>
<p>It’s fair to assume that this Women’s World Cup is probably the most significant women’s sporting event in history, although this won’t be the last time we hear that phrase. The trajectory of women’s sport is <a href="https://www.fearlesswomen.co.uk/about-documentary">continually rising</a> – and arguably there has never been a better time to be involved in sport as a woman.</p>
<p>But for so long women have fought for a more equal footing within the male-dominated world of sport, and researchers have long highlighted the <a href="https://books.emeraldinsight.com/book/detail/the-professionalisation-of-womens-sport-by-ali-bowes/?k=9781800431973">lack of equality in the game</a>. So, as participation levels rise, TV viewing figures increase and sponsorship income improves year on year, we might ask: what’s left to achieve for women in football?</p>
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<p>Alongside other researchers, I have written about the <a href="https://books.emeraldinsight.com/page/detail/women%EF%BF%BDs-football-in-a-global-professional-era/?k=9781800710535">gender gap</a> in professional and elite-level women’s football in the last few years. This body of work pays attention to some key – and in many ways overlapping and interlinked – issues in women’s sport, including equal pay, injury, menstruation and maternity rights.</p>
<p>One of the most significant developments for women’s sport is the <a href="https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/978-1-80071-052-820230013/full/html">discussion on equal pay</a> in football, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14660970.2021.1977280">advanced mainly</a> by the US women’s national team.</p>
<p>This World Cup has seen the <a href="https://fifpro.org/en/who-we-are/what-we-do/foundations-of-work/collective-action-fifpro-celebrates-players-improved-women-s-world-cup-pay-and-conditions/">biggest investment of money from Fifa</a> yet: US$152m (£118m) to ensure that all players are paid and prize money is increased and on a “<a href="https://sports.yahoo.com/womens-world-cup-prize-money-equal-pay-142958181.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYmluZy5jb20v&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAJkNUU2zeIuTwaYlfa4w7yVRFrmraWk2tEOmxXtg2nhBCPf4_TXou7cnjOA0R0P_y9tBH3swhVijtZ-VQd7ttQUG3k_yfwa6oIOrU2qhZeixMtHSn144AXirq_WY_GNJ71faGZz9gZ7AisV7ezmcxRfcw0wd4m9zcoXRkzj5UZTh">pathway to equality</a>” with the men’s tournament. Fifa has also ensured that standards across staffing, base camps, accommodation and travel are delivered to the same level as the men’s competition.</p>
<h2>Facilities and healthcare</h2>
<p>However, despite the starry heights reached by the qualified teams, a recent report by the world players’ union <a href="https://fifpro.org/en/">Fifpro</a> found that there remain <a href="https://fifpro.org/en/who-we-are/what-we-do/foundations-of-work/new-fifpro-report-warns-of-uneven-women-s-world-cup-qualifying-across-confederations">stark inequalities in women’s football</a> across the globe.</p>
<p>A total of 362 women across teams attempting to qualify for this World Cup were surveyed, with 70% reporting poor gym facilities, 66% reporting poor or non-existent recovery facilities, and 54% saying they were not provided with a pre-tournament medical. </p>
<p>In addition 66% players had to take unpaid leave or vacation from work and almost 33% did not receive any compensation. So there is work to be done in the elite women’s game.</p>
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<h2>Injuries</h2>
<p>Given the <a href="https://fifpro.org/media/iv2cvxt5/2023-qualifying-conditions-report_en_web.pdf">findings</a> from Fifpro on facilities, pitches and payment, it comes as no surprise that injury has become a hot topic of interest within women’s football. According to sports medicine specialists, women are <a href="https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/12926431/future-of-football-why-acl-injuries-have-been-on-rise-in-womens-game-and-the-technology-and-solutions-to-fix-it#:%7E:text=Football%2Dfocused%20studies%20suggest%20women,likely%20to%20return%20after%20recovery.">six times more likely</a> to rupture their anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), and for this World Cup, <a href="https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/978-1-80071-052-820230013/full/html">nine of the top players</a> are <a href="https://www.skysports.com/football/news/35730/12748748/inside-the-wsl-why-are-acl-injuries-so-common-in-womens-football">absent with the injury</a>.</p>
<h2>Gendered environment</h2>
<p>The field of sport science has been heavily criticised for its <a href="https://journals.humankinetics.com/view/journals/wspaj/29/2/article-p146.xml?alreadyAuthRedirecting">male-dominated approach</a>, where only 6% of research looks exclusively at women. Only now are we seeing a drive to develop female-specific equipment in <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/65985681">response to player concerns</a>, as scientists start to <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12283-022-00384-3">address the gender imbalance</a> in sports technology.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/55/17/984.full">powerful piece</a> published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine highlights a gendered environment approach to understanding ACL injuries. This work describes how the social construction of gender affects the ACL injury cycle across the whole life of the athlete.</p>
<p>This includes how boys and girls learn to move (often differently) alongside inadequate training and competition environments for girls, and gendered cultural body norms – often women competing in sport are considered “unfeminine”, with athletic, muscular bodies traditionally associated with masculinity. </p>
<p>In some countries, like Brazil, for example, female players in the past have <a href="https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/equityDiversityInclusion/2012/07/the-body-image-of-female-athletes-diversity-in-sport/">struggled to be accepted in the face “cultural disapproval”</a>. It’s an interesting and useful approach that highlights the complexity of women and girls’ involvement in sport.</p>
<h2>Proper football kit</h2>
<p>Menstruation, menopause and female hormone profiles across puberty, have been thought to have some impact on <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40279-020-01319-3">sports performance </a>and <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/03635465980260050301?casa_token=vanOJh635i8AAAAA:7K0VbM-p8AiFY-dE0RRTmWXlj9EbkMnWU-jXcq3zoGNAOf7vAVPaSr1Qkl17CgRcAHAAp4rrYptz">injury</a>. However, we’re only now seeing changes made to player uniforms – <a href="https://www.femtechworld.co.uk/news/ditching-white-shorts-only-touches-on-the-support-women-need-in-sport-say-experts/">namely no white shorts</a> – in response to player fears around menstruation and leaking, to take one example.</p>
<p>This is part of a broader shift in sportswear manufacturers finally creating women-specific kit instead of the “<a href="https://www.msn.com/en-au/sport/other/women-s-world-cup-from-hand-me-downs-to-period-proofing-the-matildas-kits-reflect-the-evolution-of-women-s-football/ar-AA1ezeqQ">hand-me-down men’s kit” culture</a> many ex-players experienced.</p>
<h2>Women’s bodies and experiences</h2>
<p>This World Cup will see a number of players <a href="https://keepup.com.au/news/mom-squad-behind-us-quest-for-world-cup-glory/">taking to the pitch as mothers</a>. Despite the increasing number of professional women footballers, their employment rights as mothers have often been overlooked. This has led to numbers of women quitting the sport early to have children, and research has shown that players have <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fspor.2021.730151/full">struggled</a> to combine professional football careers with motherhood.</p>
<p><a href="https://digitalhub.fifa.com/m/033101649cc3c480/original/f9cc8eex7qligvxfznbf-pdf.pdf">Fifa regulations launched at the end of 2020</a> provided players with paid maternity leave for the first time. However, we know in some cases <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fspor.2021.730151/full">players have concerns</a> about taking maternity leave. </p>
<p>For example, would their clubs think they are less committed to the sport? Would their bodies recover to their pre-pregnancy form? Here, access to health support and adequate facilities, as well as being properly paid, becomes key, as well as broader cultural change within the sport to normalise pregnancy and motherhood.</p>
<p>It’s clear that women’s football has never been in a better place, and the World Cup is currently a fine showcase for it, but it’s crucial that the female game to continues to strive for improvement in areas that fundamentally affect the lives and careers of its players.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208891/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ali Bowes does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As participation levels rise, TV viewing figures increase and sponsorship income improves year on year, what’s left to achieve for women in football?Ali Bowes, Senior Lecturer in Sociology of Sport, Nottingham Trent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2104332023-08-01T12:26:11Z2023-08-01T12:26:11Z‘Barbie’ is, at its core, a movie about the messy contradictions of motherhood<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540009/original/file-20230728-16516-tattnd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=123%2C22%2C3617%2C2563&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">There's a difference between the fulfilling relationship mothers can have with their children and the patriarchal institution of motherhood.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/mother-holds-her-daughters-hand-during-the-opening-of-the-news-photo/1037836058?adppopup=true">Jens Kalaene/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Editor’s note: This article contains plot spoilers for “Barbie.”</em></p>
<p>The wildly popular “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1517268/">Barbie</a>” movie <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love-the-doll-a-feminist-philosophers-journey-back-to-barbie-208730">has been touted for its celebration</a> – and critique – of femininity. </p>
<p>As a mother and a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=eIQ1xFoAAAAJ&hl=en">media scholar</a>, I couldn’t help but see “Barbie” through an even narrower lens: as a film that, at its core, is about mothers and daughters.</p>
<p>The film’s plot centers on a life-size doll, known as “Stereotypical Barbie,” played by <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3053338/">Margot Robbie</a>, who begins to malfunction: Her feet go flat, and she can’t stop thinking about death. So she leaves her perfect plastic life to embark on a quest to restore the boundary between the real world and Barbieland. Along the way, she learns that the real world is nothing like her girl-power wonderland, where Barbies hold all the positions of power and influence and Kens are just accessories. </p>
<p>But its thematic heart rests in the film’s examination of the tensions around being a mother – a role often taken for granted, even as the cultural fantasies of motherhood clash with the actual sacrifices that moms make.</p>
<h2>Motherhood as mere drudgery?</h2>
<p>I was immediately struck by the movie’s funny but chilling observations about motherhood. </p>
<p>“Since the beginning of time,” unseen narrator <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000545/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cl_t23">Helen Mirren</a> intones sardonically in the film’s first line, “since the first little girl ever existed, there have been dolls.” (Cinephiles will immediately recognize this scene and its setting as an homage to Stanley Kubrick’s famous “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypEaGQb6dJk">dawn of man</a>” opening from “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062622/">2001: A Space Odyssey</a>.”) </p>
<p>Girls appear on screen, wearing drab, antiquated dresses and playing “house” with their dolls in a primitive setting, expressionless and practically drooping with boredom. The problem with these dolls is that girls “could only ever play at being mothers, which can be fun” – Mirren pauses meaningfully – “for a while.” </p>
<p>Then, she adds, her tone turning cynical, “Ask your mother.”</p>
<p>The appeal of motherhood, Mirren seems to suggest, eventually morphs into unwanted drudgery – a reality underscored moments later when the girls meet their first Barbie, who towers above them, larger than life, inspiring them to smash their mundane baby dolls.</p>
<p>Barbie – a doll of a young, beautiful woman – compels kids to leave the ennui of motherhood behind for the pink plastic sparkle of Barbieland, where all the Barbies live their best lives forever, embodying feminine perfection and possibility.</p>
<p>The framing of motherhood as thankless and undesirable echoes mid-20th-century feminist critiques of child rearing and housework. These roles not only bound women to the home but also forced them to perform repetitive tasks that didn’t reflect their abilities and derailed their ambitions. </p>
<p>In her 1949 book “<a href="https://newuniversityinexileconsortium.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Simone-de-Beauvoir-The-Second-Sex-Jonathan-Cape-1956.pdf">The Second Sex</a>,” French philosopher <a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/beauvoir/">Simone de Beauvoir</a> argued that women, to empower themselves, needed to reject the myth that motherhood represented the pinnacle of feminine achievement. American writer Betty Friedan would echo this sentiment in her 1963 book “<a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/powerful-complicated-legacy-betty-friedans-feminine-mystique-180976931/">The Feminine Mystique</a>,” railing against the image of the “happy housewife heroine” who finds fulfillment in being a wife and mother.</p>
<p>It’s no coincidence that these ideas overlapped with the invention of Barbie in 1959. While predating the women’s movement of the 1960s and 1970s, Barbie’s creator, Ruth Handler, did design the toy <a href="https://www.history.com/news/barbie-through-the-ages">to allow girls to imagine their future adult selves</a>, rather than simply play-acting as mothers using baby dolls. </p>
<h2>The value in ‘motherwork’</h2>
<p>And yet, not only do many women enjoy being mothers, but motherhood also plays an essential role in society and life. </p>
<p>In her 1976 book “<a href="https://wwnorton.com/books/Of-Woman-Born/">Of Woman Born</a>,” feminist poet <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/adrienne-rich">Adrienne Rich</a> draws a distinction between the fulfilling relationship mothers can have with their children and the patriarchal institution of motherhood, which keeps women under men’s control. </p>
<p>Sociologist Patricia Hill Collins <a href="https://www.law.berkeley.edu/php-programs/centers/crrj/zotero/loadfile.php?entity_key=8RI83AUW">coined the term “motherwork</a>” in the mid-1990s to highlight the experiences of women of color and working-class mothers, many of whom don’t have the resources to pursue their own ambitions over caring for their families and communities. When you’re just trying to navigate the day-to-day without wealth or other forms of privilege, options like hiring a nanny or paying for graduate school aren’t feasible or a priority. </p>
<p>For these mothers, the survival of their children is not a given. Instead of tedium and oppression, motherwork acknowledges that mothering can be a radically important labor of love and a source of empowerment in its own right.</p>
<p>In “Barbie,” the mother-daughter relationship between Gloria, played by <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1065229/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_3_nm_5_q_America%2520Ferrera">America Ferrera</a>, and her daughter Sasha, played by <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm7567556/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1">Ariana Greenblatt</a>, contains these contradictions.</p>
<p>After experiencing a vision of the person whose sadness seems to be the source of her malfunctions, Stereotypical Barbie initially assumes it’s Sasha’s tween angst that’s disturbed the perfection of Barbieland and drawn her into the real world. Instead, Barbie discovers it’s Gloria’s loneliness – and her nostalgia for a simpler time when she played Barbies with her daughter – that has caused the rift between reality and fantasy.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Mother wearing pink with teen girl resting head on mother's shoulder." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540007/original/file-20230728-3718-8yxk8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540007/original/file-20230728-3718-8yxk8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540007/original/file-20230728-3718-8yxk8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540007/original/file-20230728-3718-8yxk8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540007/original/file-20230728-3718-8yxk8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540007/original/file-20230728-3718-8yxk8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540007/original/file-20230728-3718-8yxk8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">America Ferrera, left, as Gloria, in ‘Barbie.’ Ariana Greenblatt, right, plays Gloria’s daughter Sasha.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod/images/america-ferrera-64bfffde19a2a.jpg?crop=0.8820751064653504xw:1xh;center,top&resize=1200:*">Warner Bros.</a></span>
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<p>Sasha and Gloria’s adventure with Barbie – first escaping the Mattel executives who want to lock Barbie in a box and then journeying back to Barbieland to rescue the other Barbies from the Kens, who are trying to take over – repairs the relationship between mother and daughter. </p>
<p>Gloria remembers what it’s like to find joy in motherhood, and Sasha realizes that her mother isn’t just a bland set of values against which to rebel. Gloria is a fully fledged person with a rich inner life who, by her own estimation, is sometimes “weird and dark and crazy,” which Sasha admires.</p>
<p>Sasha – and all the Barbies – have something else to learn from Gloria, too. </p>
<p>Stunned that even someone as perfect as Barbie feels like she’s not good enough, Gloria delivers <a href="https://www.glamour.com/story/america-ferrera-barbie-monologue-full-text">a poignant monologue</a> encapsulating, in Barbie’s words, “the cognitive dissonance required to be a woman under patriarchy.” </p>
<p>Gloria, as a mom struggling to reconcile her deep love for her child with the fear that she’s constantly failing at motherhood, knows all too well how this cognitive dissonance wears women down.</p>
<h2>Letting go</h2>
<p>In her 2018 book “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jul/28/jacqueline-rose-books-interview-motherhood">Mothers: An Essay on Love and Cruelty</a>,” scholar Jacqueline Rose argues that motherhood is tied to notions of citizenship and nation and, for this reason, can become “the ultimate scapegoat for our personal and political failings.”</p>
<p>The ending to “Barbie” rejects the notion that mothers are to blame for their children’s mistakes. Instead, the film offers another perspective through the character of Ruth Handler, Mattel’s founder, who’s played by Rhea Perlman. Handler helps Barbie see what awaits her if she chooses to become human. </p>
<p>Symbolically letting go of her creation and encouraging her to forge her own path, Ruth tells Barbie that she cannot control her any more than she could control her own daughter, and that mothers should pave the way for their children, not hinder them. </p>
<p>“We mothers,” she explains, “stand still so our daughters can look back to see how far they’ve come.”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Elderly woman with white hair wearing necklace and red lipstick holds box containing a doll wearing a turquoise and pink dress." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540008/original/file-20230728-27-hjw3az.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540008/original/file-20230728-27-hjw3az.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540008/original/file-20230728-27-hjw3az.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540008/original/file-20230728-27-hjw3az.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540008/original/file-20230728-27-hjw3az.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540008/original/file-20230728-27-hjw3az.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540008/original/file-20230728-27-hjw3az.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Ruth Handler, the inventor of the Barbie doll, with her creation in 1999.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/ruth-handler-mattel-inc-co-founder-and-inventor-of-the-news-photo/51622682?adppopup=true">Matt Campbell/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>This sentimental and self-effacing message seems at odds with the film’s nuanced portrayal of motherhood through humor and critique. </p>
<p>But, throughout, “Barbie” invites viewers to question even its own structure, tenets and messaging – and presents multiple perspectives on motherhood. </p>
<p>Mothering is hard work and sometimes may even be thankless labor. It may bore or disappoint. It can be affirming or heartbreaking or both. It involves leading and following, holding on and letting go. </p>
<p>Being a mother shouldn’t have to be about sacrifice or about fitting some impossible ideal. Instead, motherhood can highlight the possibilities of living in – and with – the contradictions.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210433/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Aviva Dove-Viebahn does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Being a mom can be heartbreaking, empowering, scary, fulfilling and everything in between.Aviva Dove-Viebahn, Assistant Professor of Film and Media Studies, Arizona State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2050592023-07-28T12:52:44Z2023-07-28T12:52:44ZBreastfeeding: mothers taking prescription medicines faced with a lack of information – new review<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534299/original/file-20230627-15-svfyno.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=85%2C0%2C9504%2C6260&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Most medicines are safe for most breastfed babies, while serious harm to infants is rare.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/mother-son-sitting-on-sofa-breastfeeding-2251534251">Krakenimages.com/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Breastfeeding is a cornerstone of early childhood nutrition and development. However, taking prescription medicines can reduce breastfeeding rates because parents who take such medications often face a lack of information about their potential impact on babies or how medicines affect lactation. </p>
<p>To better understand the effects of medicines on breastfeeding, we conducted a <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0284128">systematic review</a> of the available information. We scoured electronic databases for research on the impact of prescription medicines on breastfeeding. These studies examined how medicines affected milk composition, milk production and the health of breastfed infants. </p>
<p>We found a limited number of high-quality studies, with only ten established databases reporting on breastfeeding, medicines and infant outcomes together. And, unfortunately, none of these studies covered educational outcomes, making it difficult to assess potential long-term risks, harms and benefits.</p>
<p>Our research shows that more data collection is needed. And our work and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0225133">other research</a> highlights there is a need for additional support to help breastfeeding mothers overcome physical barriers, including delayed milk production and <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28027444/">anxiety</a> about the use of prescription medicine.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542294/original/file-20230811-4652-hn8w80.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542294/original/file-20230811-4652-hn8w80.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542294/original/file-20230811-4652-hn8w80.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542294/original/file-20230811-4652-hn8w80.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542294/original/file-20230811-4652-hn8w80.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542294/original/file-20230811-4652-hn8w80.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542294/original/file-20230811-4652-hn8w80.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em>This article is part of <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/womens-health-matters-143335">Women’s Health Matters</a>, a series about the health and wellbeing of women and girls around the world. From menopause to miscarriage, pleasure to pain the articles in this series will delve into the full spectrum of women’s health issues to provide valuable information, insights and resources for women of all ages.</em></p>
<p><em>You may be interested in:</em></p>
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<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/the-orgasm-gap-and-why-women-climax-less-than-men-208614">The orgasm gap and why women climax less than men</a></em></p>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/science-experiments-traditionally-only-used-male-mice-heres-why-thats-a-problem-for-womens-health-205963">Science experiments traditionally only used male mice – here’s why that’s a problem for women’s health</a></em></p>
<hr>
<h2>Safety</h2>
<p>Most medicines are safe for most breastfed babies, while serious harm to infants is rare. In most cases, the benefits of breastfeeding outweigh the risks of harms associated with medicine use. Still, this can be a complex issue and it’s essential to weigh the benefits and risks carefully.</p>
<p>There are some medicines that require extra checks on infants and their ability to breastfeed. For example, infants whose mothers use antibiotics such as amoxicillin and erythromycin (which are known to be safe to use during breastfeeding), should be checked for oral thrush and diarrhoea, as prompt treatment is important. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://bnf.nice.org.uk">British National Formulary</a> (BNF) offers advice on the prescribing and administration of medicines. Infants of mothers taking certain medicines, such as those for epilepsy, mental health conditions, sedatives, or opioids, should be monitored for signs of sedation, sleepiness, poor feeding, weight loss and irritability. </p>
<p>Health professionals should also assess how effectively the baby is feeding by observing suckling and attachment to the breast. This is important because these types of medicines can interfere with an infant’s ability to feed and receive adequate nutrition.</p>
<p>The BNF expresses reservations regarding prescribing some sedative medicines that pass into breastmilk, where there is a risk of infant sedation, as with benzodiazepines (such as diazepam), and some anti-seizure medicines such as phenobarbital or primidone. </p>
<p>It recommends avoiding certain medicines during breastfeeding altogether, including some antipsychotics, such as olanzapine and clozapine, and the antidepressants escitalopram and fluoxetine. But other antidepressants, such as citalopram, may be used with caution. Most antipsychotic injections should be avoided during breastfeeding too, as should fingolimod which is used to treat multiple sclerosis. </p>
<p>Breastfeeding while using many medicines for serious illness, such as cancer, should be discussed with medical professionals. There may be little or no information from human studies, and there may be too little information to guarantee safety. Examples include many monoclonal antibodies used to treat cancer, and the immunosuppressant, mycophenolate mofetil, which is used to prevent the rejection of kidney, heart or liver transplants.</p>
<h2>Advice</h2>
<p>Mothers taking medicines should not blame themselves for being hesitant towards breastfeeding. Medical advice should be sought before birth. And families should not feel compelled to choose between breastfeeding and continuing with prescription medicines.</p>
<p>It’s essential for doctors, pharmacists and other health professionals to consult reliable information sources, including <a href="https://wicworks.fns.usda.gov/resources/lactmed">LactMed</a> and <a href="https://www.e-lactancia.org/">E-lactancia</a>, or contact the <a href="https://www.breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk/detailed-information/drugs-in-breastmilk/">Drugs in Breastmilk helpline</a>.</p>
<p>To help families who need prescription medicines, it is crucial for public health teams controlling the collection of routine healthcare data to treat data collection on medicine use during and after pregnancy and during labour as a priority. This would allow research into the benefits and harms of medicine use before and during breastfeeding. </p>
<p>Such information would help parents make informed decisions regarding their medical treatment, breastfeeding and monitoring infants. It would also help minimise parental anxiety and potentially harmful false dilemmas.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205059/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sue Jordan receives funding from the ConcePTION project. The ConcePTION project has received funding from the Innovative Medicines Initiative 2 Joint Undertaking under grant agreement No 821520. This Joint Undertaking receives support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme and EFPIA. Funding was awarded to SJ, SLL. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sophia Komninou does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Not enough data is being collected about the impact taking prescription medication has on breastfeeding.Sophia Komninou, Lecturer in Public Health Nutrition, Swansea UniversitySue Jordan, Professor of Medicines Management and Health Services Research, Swansea UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2072502023-06-08T16:29:24Z2023-06-08T16:29:24ZBreastfeeding linked to higher GCSE results: how to understand the nuance behind the numbers – and the lack of support for parents<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530854/original/file-20230608-25-6n674r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C5%2C3817%2C2149&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/tired-mother-rocking-feeding-her-newborn-1900453813">kryzhov/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://adc.bmj.com/content/early/2023/05/04/archdischild-2022-325148">Recently published research</a> has found a link between breastfeeding for longer and higher GCSE grades.</p>
<p>We know from <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(15)01024-7/fulltext?preview=true&preview=true">previous research</a> that across a whole population, breastfeeding can help support health and development. Babies who are breastfed are statistically less likely to develop certain health issues, or – as in this study – slightly more likely to gain higher grades. But the key phrase is “likely”. </p>
<p>No research has ever shown that a baby who is not breastfed will develop an illness, or that a baby who is breastfed will not. But nuance like this can go missing from headlines, like <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/breast-fed-children-pass-gcse-exams-uk-study-2023-jgqcnn67c">those seen</a> when this <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/breastfeeding-babies-gcses-higher-marks-b2352149.html">study was published</a>. And so can recognition that child development is always more complex than whether a baby is breastfed or not, as multiple factors affect our health. </p>
<p>This is clear from the research study itself. It found that around one in six students in the study achieved a high pass in maths and English. Within that, once factors such as maternal education and social class taken into account, babies who were breastfed for 12 months or more were around a third more likely to achieve a top grade in maths and English than those never breastfed. </p>
<p>Given that only a minority achieved top grades, this translates to a small increased chance of top grades among babies breastfed for a year or more. Data for shorter durations, or other outcomes such as passing five GCSEs or more was less conclusive.</p>
<p>So, most children did not get a top grade, however they were fed. Some babies who were never breastfed achieved top grades. </p>
<h2>Complex factors</h2>
<p>On an individual level, once you also consider other factors that <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2022.849765/full">could affect grades</a> but can’t be measured in a study like this – things out of our control such as genetics, luck, and how hard a teen chooses to revise – the difference will likely be even smaller. Certainly not at a level that should cause concern if you are reading this as a parent whose baby could not be breastfed. </p>
<p>Although it would be wrong to imply that breastfeeding never plays a role, it’s more likely that it plays a role alongside many other important factors too.</p>
<p>Saying that, studies that show a small increase such as this are important, because they might persuade governments and other organisations that breastfeeding support is <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(15)01044-2/fulltext">worth investing in</a>. There has been a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/jul/27/breastfeeding-support-services-failing-mothers-due-to-cuts">sustained failure</a> in understanding and supporting all aspects of infant feeding. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://adc.bmj.com/content/early/2023/05/04/archdischild-2022-325148">study itself</a> is well conducted and highlights its own limitations. But it has led to a multitude of news headlines stating that breastfed children <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/breast-fed-children-pass-gcse-exams-uk-study-2023-jgqcnn67c">do better at school</a> – and <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/breastfeeding-babies-gcses-higher-marks-b2352149.html">calling on mothers to breastfeed</a> to improve their children’s grades.</p>
<p>The media interpretation has reignited feelings of grief and anger among those who feel let down by the dire <a href="https://twitter.com/LittleDoctorVic/status/1666350722999373824">lack of investment</a> in infant feeding. The response <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/breastfed-kids-doing-better-on-exams-is-the-absolute-last-thing-women-need-to-hear_uk_647f1eabe4b0a7554f46c296">has been fierce</a>. </p>
<p>For women who want to breastfeed, news articles like the ones that reported the new study do little to actually support parents to do so. The 2010 <a href="https://doc.ukdataservice.ac.uk/doc/7281/mrdoc/pdf/7281_ifs-uk-2010_report.pdf">infant feeding survey</a> found that around a third of women who had started breastfeeding stopped altogether in the first six weeks. Four out of five would have liked to <a href="https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/infant-feeding-survey/infant-feeding-survey-uk-2010">carry on for longer</a>. </p>
<p>What use is knowing that breastfeeding could potentially improve your child’s educational outcomes if the support that you need to do that is missing?</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Woman bottle feeding baby" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530857/original/file-20230608-2966-g3nm04.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530857/original/file-20230608-2966-g3nm04.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=334&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530857/original/file-20230608-2966-g3nm04.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=334&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530857/original/file-20230608-2966-g3nm04.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=334&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530857/original/file-20230608-2966-g3nm04.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530857/original/file-20230608-2966-g3nm04.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530857/original/file-20230608-2966-g3nm04.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">All mothers should be supported.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/portrait-enjoy-happy-love-family-african-1682289811">Art_Photo/Shutterstock</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>Many women stop for reasons outside their control, such as difficulty accessing support to position their baby without pain, complications such as tongue tie, conflicting advice, exhaustion, health reasons, or milk supply issues. </p>
<p>Others feel <a href="https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/118475/">pressured into stopping</a> by family, have challenges <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/1229866">returning to work</a>, or feel <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/mcn.13407">criticised feeding in public</a>. Some cannot breastfeed due to <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fped.2018.00278/full">health complications</a> meaning continuing to breastfeed would not have led to optimal outcomes for them. </p>
<p>I could cite a hundred reasons why women stop or do not breastfeed – but not knowing that breastfeeding could possibly, at a population level, slightly increase their child’s GCSE results would not be one of them. </p>
<p>It is also important to consider <a href="https://connect.springerpub.com/content/sgrcl/9/4/200?implicit-login=true&sigma-login=has-d&sigma-token=pEgVISe7k6RoRyZjib5Qo7ubnTzxwV8ETwj2nhYmg4c">why breastfeeding might be important</a> to women.
In my research, <a href="https://pinterandmartin.com/why-breastfeeding-grief-and-trauma-matter">women have talked about</a> the importance of breastfeeding to them because their baby was premature or unwell, because of cultural or religious reasons, or a preference to care for their baby in a certain way. A simple desire for their body to work as they hoped. </p>
<p>Many can’t put it in words. When breastfeeding doesn’t work women can feel like they <a href="https://welldoing.org/article/why-breastfeeding-grief-trauma-matter">lose much more</a> than hypothetical future good grades. It’s not about GCSE grades, but rather expectations being shattered, tied up in a lack of promised support, <a href="https://graziadaily.co.uk/life/parenting/us-formula-milk-shortages-breastfeeding-guilt-tongue-tie/">casual judgements</a> of your decisions, or a dismissal of how breastfeeding <a href="https://www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/article/breastfeeding-grief">mattered to you</a>. Our main focus should be on ensuring that all new parents get the support they need now in navigating caring for their baby.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207250/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amy Brown has received funding from the ESRC, MRC, NIHR, HEFCW, UKRI, Infant feeding charities and Public Health Wales. She is a trustee for First Steps Nutrition Trust. </span></em></p>Child development is always more complex than whether a baby is breastfed or not, as multiple factors affect our health.Amy Brown, Professor of Child Public Health, Swansea UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2047372023-06-08T01:06:01Z2023-06-08T01:06:01ZLove, loss and the end of the world: three Australian debut novels seduce and stumble<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530245/original/file-20230606-22-dgl9pc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C7%2C5278%2C3487&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tatiana Syrikova/Pexels</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Coming of age is familiar territory for first-time novelists – the journey from youth to adult maturity. First novels often draw on personal experience. For the reader, they can feel like a hybrid of memoir and fiction. In these three debut novels, growing up happens very differently for each protagonist, across diverse Australian settings. </p>
<p>The territory they inhabit variously hovers between the recognisable real world, in two coastal novels that include themes of parental closeness and estrangement, and the purely imaginary – in a dystopian debut where the protagonist grows up in a near-future where it never stops raining.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Review: Thirst for Salt – Madelaine Lucas (Allen & Unwin); The Comforting Weight of Water – Roanna McClelland (Wakefield Press); My Father the Whale (HarperCollins)</em></p>
<hr>
<p>In <a href="https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/book/Madelaine-Lucas-Thirst-for-Salt-9781761066931/">Thirst for Salt</a>, Madelaine Lucas builds an emotional world so real that we viscerally inhabit the mind and heart of her young narrator. Any of us who has ever known (or wanted to know) rare intimacy in all its sensuality and rawness will recognise it in these pages. </p>
<p>The Australian cover of Thirst for Salt features a young woman, face partially obscured, on a windswept beach. The cliché undersells the literary strengths of Lucas’s novel; her psychological story is so much richer than the cover – and the bare plot – might suggest. </p>
<h2>A yearning affair</h2>
<p>A young woman forms a relationship with an older man, Jude, encountered on a beach holiday. She is 24, he 42. The symmetry portends hope, despite their difference in age. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530247/original/file-20230606-29-7sme40.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530247/original/file-20230606-29-7sme40.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530247/original/file-20230606-29-7sme40.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530247/original/file-20230606-29-7sme40.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530247/original/file-20230606-29-7sme40.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530247/original/file-20230606-29-7sme40.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1153&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530247/original/file-20230606-29-7sme40.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1153&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530247/original/file-20230606-29-7sme40.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1153&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<p>The narrator, never named, is breaking from an unusual closeness with the single mother who raised her. She wants to “establish a life outside her purview, a life that was mine alone”. The passionate affair with Jude forms the core of the novel, but neither love story nor coming-of-age are quite adequate to capture the deep and affecting emotional complexities explored in this novel: from the heartbreak of parental separation and estrangement to the losses of what might have been. </p>
<p>The young woman feels untethered. She sees it in the “raised-by-wolves look […] in certain pictures from the years after my mother left my father”. She shares with her mother “a marrowed loneliness, passed down womb to womb”. Love is a central theme, communicated with a finely attuned sensibility that never descends into trope. </p>
<p>The narrator yearns, too, for her absent father, whom she sees sporadically due to her transient upbringing. She recalls the occasion of playing a game of chess with him: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I tried to mirror him, moving my pawns forward one square at a time until he cornered my king in five moves. Checkmate. It happened so quickly, the pieces swept away, the board closed up and slipped back into my father’s coat, and then he was gone. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The quest for an absent father figure looms, but never overtakes, in the burgeoning affair with Jude.</p>
<p>This legacy of parental neglect – not materially, not even so much the lack of love, more a carelessness towards a growing child’s being – gives rise to an uncertain persona, a woman who mistrusts the gifts of life and love. She feels her relative youth as a flaw (“trying to appear seasoned, brave, lying in his bed with the sheets tucked up under my arms”) and struggles to find equality with a man so much older, more experienced, more worldly-wise.</p>
<p>The asymmetries of the relationship become more pronounced. “Jude said that we should be like a gift to each other, but I longed to be essential.” There is something of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/wuthering-heights-emily-bronte-and-the-truth-about-the-real-life-heathcliff-192230">Heathcliff</a> in Jude, or perhaps <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/apr/07/100-best-novels-jude-obscure-thomas-hardy">Jude the Obscure</a>; the literary reference is not lost. He is handsome – and inscrutable. </p>
<p>The reader can’t help asking why an intelligent, qualified young woman is living a life of reclusion with an older loner of a man in a weather-ravaged house on a remote (windswept) coast. The answer: refuge, care, comfort, phenomenal sex (at first) and an illusion of trustfulness, stability and dependency, the “forever” she seeks. But ultimately Jude needs “not to feel bound to anyone – love with a loose leash”. Like a silk-spun cocoon, we know their affair must break (and this is not a spoiler – we know from the opening pages). </p>
<p>King, an affectionate, hound-like mutt of a dog enters their life. He, like the narrator, was once abandoned, now finding new love and care. His condition deteriorates as does the progression of love. “We wanted to believe, my mother and I, that love could restore what was beyond repair, and if not, at least let us walk around in the wreckage.” But love cannot cure all, she discovers. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530304/original/file-20230606-17-y3q4co.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530304/original/file-20230606-17-y3q4co.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530304/original/file-20230606-17-y3q4co.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530304/original/file-20230606-17-y3q4co.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530304/original/file-20230606-17-y3q4co.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530304/original/file-20230606-17-y3q4co.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530304/original/file-20230606-17-y3q4co.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530304/original/file-20230606-17-y3q4co.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Madelaine Lucas builds an emotional world so real that we viscerally inhabit her narrator.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kylie Coutts</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some novels invite you right in, to settle down in that warm house while storms rage outside. The protagonist’s naïve voice is interwoven with the mature insights of a much-older narrator, a decade on, reminiscing on this significant episode in her life. The two voices work together in delicate harmony, shifting effortlessly between description, action, sensory experience and reflection. The prose is textured and multilayered, as pure and melancholic as the sea in all its changing moods, which Lucas so beautifully captures. </p>
<p>“There is no end to grief,” the mother tells her daughter, “because there is no end to love”.</p>
<p>Thirst for Salt treads familiar territory, yet is told with such acuity as to render it fresh. Who is not drawn in by the seductiveness of first love: love like no one has ever experienced? Who of us hasn’t longed for that to endure and questioned why it didn’t or couldn’t? </p>
<p>These and other universal questions – the need for belonging, connection and stability, as well as the coming-of-age quest for identity, adventure and challenge – form the meditative core of Thirst for Salt. And they absorb the reader through the novel’s pages. </p>
<p>For all its melancholy, Lucas still leaves us with hope: “What continues to surprise me,” the narrator shares, “and what I still don’t understand, is not the reasons that love ends but the way that it endures.”</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/damsels-in-distress-two-new-australian-novels-fail-to-achieve-their-literary-ambitions-187089">Damsels in distress: two new Australian novels fail to achieve their literary ambitions</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Adolesence and the death of humanity</h2>
<p>Coming of age is depicted in a starkly contrasting environment in <a href="https://www.wakefieldpress.com.au/product.php?productid=1863&cat=0&page=&featured=Y">The Comforting Weight of Water</a>. The narrative chronicles the daily routines of an adolescent in a dystopian, near-future world where it never stops raining – except for one brief period of sunlight each day. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530248/original/file-20230606-27-w1h1ts.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530248/original/file-20230606-27-w1h1ts.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530248/original/file-20230606-27-w1h1ts.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530248/original/file-20230606-27-w1h1ts.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530248/original/file-20230606-27-w1h1ts.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530248/original/file-20230606-27-w1h1ts.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530248/original/file-20230606-27-w1h1ts.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530248/original/file-20230606-27-w1h1ts.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<p>The adolescent narrator lives with the ageing Gammy, who can remember “shops and people walking on the moon, being part of the land”. The adolescent – the only one remaining in the village (“they killed the rest like you”) wears a green cloak and a bell. She is responsible for providing food for the rest of the villagers: lizards, eels, frogs, cockroaches, crabs. At the same time, she is greatly feared by them. The animals of the swamp – a cod fish, a turtle – are her only companions. </p>
<p>This disturbing scenario is presented as an inevitability for anyone complacent about the threats to our environment. McClelland depicts a terrifying world exacting revenge on humanity for its excesses. The elements are personified. The Wet – ceaseless rain. “Before the Wet was the dry, scorched brown earth.” The River – the villagers angered the River, who “just takes what is hers […] not a bitch, just in charge”.</p>
<p>Then there is the Unbidden, symbolised by threatening figures with their “empty eyes” and “black empty shells”, breakaways from the group of shrouded villagers. Gammy recounts what the Unbidden did: “they chucked the parents into the river, bound with ropes.” </p>
<p>Gammy is old enough to recall the events of the past. “We could make machines that circled the stars, but we couldn’t stop the Wet.” (“What’s a star, Gammy?” asks the narrator.) When the waters came, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>great lines of people [snaked] their way to higher ground […] leaving behind crumbling cities and poisoned waters and death.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>As if this isn’t bleak enough, there is no human salvation. In one chapter, the adolescent finds a position to spy on them. The villagers are pointlessly rebuilding their wooden huts in the incessant rain:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>their skin peeling off in sheets, revealing red, mottled and raw flash underneath. Some of them even have a patchwork of green and black swelling up from their ankles. Rotting as they stand there.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>They are “Zombie villagers, moving husks with nothing left inside. The wet hollowed them out”. They toil wordlessly, in their wooden-slatted shoes, or lie “in their own shit and piss”. A man falls into the sludge, submerges, his disappearance noted but ignored. This is humanity at its most degraded.</p>
<p>The villagers lack any recognisable form of empathy. The only communication is between the adolescent and Gammy. Even then, the dialogue is mocking, often harsh. Only in brief moments does Gammy acknowledge any form of sympathy or regret: “I’m sorry your future was taken away from you, kid.” </p>
<p>One day, there is no patch of sunlight. Gammy and the adolescent must leave: they set out, plodding and wading through the River, come across submerged villages, and surprisingly, find one that is flourishing (“The forest feels calm, not cowed”). They are pursued by a threatening figure (Gammy claims it was the Unbidden) but manage to elude the pursuer. </p>
<p>There are brief, energised moments and barely registerable scene changes, but for the most part, nothing much else happens in the narrative – which is the point. This is the void. The nothingness hereafter. A sobering allegory for our times.</p>
<p>The Comforting Weight of Water is not an easy read, but it’s searing in its portrayal of utter environmental annihilation and the death of humanity and humaneness. McClelland writes with angry passion – the depressed voice of a generation whose future has been stolen. As Gammy bemoans: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>all the plans you have, the way you thought you would live, suddenly wrenched away from you. Ideas for the future you didn’t even realise you relied on, washed away.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>McClelland draws the reader back into the primeval swamp and seems to be warning: if you don’t watch out, you’ll be abandoned there. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/sophie-cunninghams-pandemic-novel-admits-literature-cant-save-us-but-treasures-it-for-trying-187724">Sophie Cunningham's pandemic novel admits literature can't save us – but treasures it for trying</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p> </p>
<h2>Idealised, imperfect – and abandoning</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.harpercollins.com.au/9781460714973/my-father-the-whale/">My Father the Whale</a> is an absorbing, if uneven, tale of growing up with the transience of life on the road and the shock of paternal abandonment.</p>
<p>It is 1984 and nine-year-old Ruby roams the country in a Kombi with father Mitch, performing acrobatic circus tricks with him for a living. Her mother is long dead, silenced out of the conversation. Ruby yearns for the stability of a permanent home – and when a vehicle breakdown delays them in a regional town, Ruby has the chance to attend the local school and befriends the kind Fiona Stanley. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530249/original/file-20230606-18-aw2y9h.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530249/original/file-20230606-18-aw2y9h.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530249/original/file-20230606-18-aw2y9h.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=917&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530249/original/file-20230606-18-aw2y9h.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=917&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530249/original/file-20230606-18-aw2y9h.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=917&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530249/original/file-20230606-18-aw2y9h.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1152&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530249/original/file-20230606-18-aw2y9h.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1152&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530249/original/file-20230606-18-aw2y9h.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1152&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<p>Divisions with her father begin, heightened when Ruby is left to fend for herself in the midst of a threatening bushfire. Mitch subsequently leaves his daughter in the care of the Stanleys, chasing an opportunity in Japan and only re-entering Ruby’s life 16 years later.</p>
<p>Mitch is a larrikin, hippy father, not particularly likable or dependable, but not wholly bad either. He is idealised by his daughter, though she is also cognisant of his shortcomings. Her longing for approval – and for him to even notice her – ring true enough, but his abandonment of her is somewhat implausible given the reasonably functional and close relationship they have shared. (Though there is a background explanation to come.) The Stanley family’s adoption of Ruby without intervention from social workers and the state also stretches belief, to me. Pauline and Max feel a little too decently good to be true – though such families do exist.</p>
<p>Now an adult, Ruby works for the whale-watching company in town and develops her skills as an artist. She is obsessed by whales, as if to underline the story’s recurrent motif and the novel’s title. </p>
<p>As a child she marvelled at the mother whales’ loyalty to her calves and was curious about the role of the father whale: “The males were the singers, the battle-scarred bodyguards who taught the calf what it needed to avoid danger and survive.” Her yearning is palpable: “standing there on the bow watching the whales it was as if her wishing had brought them to her.”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530250/original/file-20230606-29-48t6iw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="whale tail emerging from sea" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530250/original/file-20230606-29-48t6iw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530250/original/file-20230606-29-48t6iw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530250/original/file-20230606-29-48t6iw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530250/original/file-20230606-29-48t6iw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530250/original/file-20230606-29-48t6iw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530250/original/file-20230606-29-48t6iw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530250/original/file-20230606-29-48t6iw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The narrator of My Father the Whale is ‘obsessed by whales, as if to underline the story’s recurrent motif’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Phillip Flores/Unsplash</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And, as if her wish did come true, Ruby’s father suddenly reappears, tagging along Carlos, the three-year-old son of his current partner, Maeve. The ironic parallels – and Ruby’s envy of – the relationships around her are especially tough for her to bear. Mitch is attached to the unappealing young Carlos, who now dominates his time and care, while Maeve is preoccupied by bigger and greater things. </p>
<p>Ruby embarks on a mission to solve the unanswered questions of her past. The implausibility rolls on through the second part of the novel. </p>
<p>I couldn’t help but think of other books on the same theme of parental abandonment, which felt like they acutely, authentically captured the voice of the abandoned child as narrator: Cath Moore’s YA novel, <a href="https://www.textpublishing.com.au/books/metal-fish-falling-snow">Metal Fish Falling Snow</a> and Shannon Burns’ memoir, <a href="https://www.textpublishing.com.au/books/childhood-a-memoir">Childhood</a>. By comparison, the abandoned child’s voice in this novel didn’t feel as real. Nor did I find plausible the events of the narrative, given we know Ruby is curious about her maternal family.</p>
<p>For instance, why didn’t she ask more questions, try to find out more about her mother, contact her maternal grandparents? At least wonder about them, in her thoughts? Fourteen years without physically seeing the father she had been so close to seems unrealistic, even for the times.</p>
<p>When Ruby does finally meet with him again, it is as if he had only disappeared yesterday. I expected a more aggrieved reaction: more shock, anger and hurt. She is irritated at Carlos for defacing her painting, but later worries she overreacted. The word “anger” towards her father arises in her thoughts, but we don’t see this in her actions, nor is there any moody silence in the dialogue between them. </p>
<p>Perhaps it is because their relationship remains essentially unchanged: Mitch has always done what he wanted, and Ruby has always passively accepted that. “No point in dwelling on these things, you’ve got to move on” Mitch says, inadequately explaining his long abandonment. Ruby hits back sharply with a response that rings more truly: “We were always moving on.”</p>
<p>Other minor characters are half-baked. Ruby’s already-married romantic attachment is barely introduced – and then dispensed with conveniently, in a matter of pages. Minor characters like this might be better invoked in brief reminiscence, or left out altogether.</p>
<p>Perry writes with fluency and ease, but I wanted her to trust the reader more, to let the dialogue speak for itself – without so many explainer tags. </p>
<p>By the end of the novel, some questions are answered. But there’s a disappointing feeling Ruby hasn’t really grown up, as she herself observes: “a strange feeling of something ending rather than beginning”. </p>
<p>Given her tough upbringing and Mitch’s flaws, such a lack of resolution is not entirely unexpected, but I found it a little unsatisfying. I expected more agency and decisiveness from Ruby – but perhaps I am too much a sucker for the restoration of order and wrongs being put to right.</p>
<p>It is really hard to write a novel. There is no fail-safe recipe. These authors are to be commended on reaching the finish line, exploring universal themes that resonate with readers: love, loss, parental failings and the imperfections of our grown-up selves. Fiction, to <a href="http://www.textjournal.com.au/oct20/prendergast.pdf">quote</a> <a href="https://shortaustralianstories.com.au/product/bloodrust-and-other-stories/">Julia Prendergast</a>, is an “apt vessel for capturing the haunting incompleteness of human experience”. These three novels, each in their own ways, effectively tackle that incompleteness.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204737/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jane Turner Goldsmith does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Three debut Australian novels explore diverse territory: the recognisable real world of parental estrangement, and a dystopian near-future where it never stops raining.Jane Turner Goldsmith, PhD candidate, Creative Writing, University of AdelaideLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2039972023-05-22T12:28:07Z2023-05-22T12:28:07ZTrans joy and family bonds are big parts of the transgender experience lost in media coverage and anti-trans legislation<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526881/original/file-20230517-29-eund6e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Some trans people find gender euphoria in being mothers and being with family.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/family-having-fun-at-home-royalty-free-image/1388504287">rparobe/E+ via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Since the beginning of 2023, 49 U.S. state legislatures have introduced <a href="https://translegislation.com/">over 500 anti-trans bills</a>. While mainstream media increasingly <a href="https://time.com/6131444/2021-anti-trans-violence/">cover violence</a> and <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/5d383z/anti-trans-violence-2022">legislative attacks</a> against trans people, many scholars and activists worry that focusing just on violence and discrimination <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/socpro/spac034">fails to capture the full experience</a> of being trans.</p>
<p>Drawing on the success of movements like the <a href="https://kleavercruz.com/the-black-joy-project">Black Joy Project</a>, which uses art to promote Black healing and community-building, trans activists are challenging one-dimensional depictions of their community by highlighting the <a href="https://www.advocate.com/voices/trans-joy-challenging-times">unique joys of being transgender</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=LzPI-r8AAAAJ&hl=en">My research</a> <a href="https://www.umass.edu/sociology/users/dpsiegel">on trans parents</a> affirms the reality of trans joy. From 2019 to 2021, I interviewed 54 transgender women – both current and prospective parents – from diverse racial and class backgrounds across the country. I found that while many have navigated discrimination in their parenting journeys, they also have fulfilling parent-child relationships, often with the support of partners, families of origin and their communities.</p>
<h2>Gender euphoria</h2>
<p>Scholars and community members use the term <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/26895269.2021.1915223">gender euphoria</a> to describe a “joyful feeling of rightness in one’s gender/sex.” It diverges from the diagnosis of <a href="https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/gender-dysphoria/what-is-gender-dysphoria">gender dysphoria</a>, or a sense of conflict between assigned sex and gender identity typically associated with feelings of distress and discomfort. </p>
<p>While gender dysphoria reflects some trans people’s experiences, physicians have historically used this concept to <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/medethics-2018-105293">restrict access to gender-affirming care</a>. For example, doctors may prescribe hormones only to people who obtain a letter from a therapist attesting that they fit a narrow understanding of transness that includes expressing hatred for their body.</p>
<p>Gender euphoria celebrates feeling comfortable with who you are and how you are perceived by the world. Some people transition with a specific set of goals, while others discover new sources of joy and new facets of their identity over time. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526888/original/file-20230517-19-42g2za.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Parents kissing child on either cheek" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526888/original/file-20230517-19-42g2za.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526888/original/file-20230517-19-42g2za.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526888/original/file-20230517-19-42g2za.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526888/original/file-20230517-19-42g2za.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526888/original/file-20230517-19-42g2za.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526888/original/file-20230517-19-42g2za.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526888/original/file-20230517-19-42g2za.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Some trans women find euphoria in their role as mothers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/happy-lgbtqia-couple-kissing-daughter-at-home-royalty-free-image/1421318476">Maskot/DigitalVision via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Many of the trans women I interviewed expressed their gender euphoria in relation to their role as mothers. A Black trans woman in her 20s, whom I will call Gloria, experiences joy in being recognized as a mother. “I love being called Mom. That’s the greatest thing,” she told me. “I love waking up every morning to see [my child’s] beautiful face. It keeps me motivated.”</p>
<p>Other people experience euphoria in how they express their gender. Naomi, a white trans woman in her 40s, experienced her first spark of gender euphoria at the nail salon. “It was the only gender-affirming thing I could express [at the time],” she said. “When the nail tech took the polish off and I saw how long my fingernails had gotten, my heart skipped a beat.”</p>
<p>For many trans people, transitioning opens up a new set of possibilities. When I asked Adriana, a trans Latina in her 30s, what it was like to come out as trans, she told me, “I’ve never been happier. The happiest day of my life was when my daughter was born, and the second happiest day of my life was when I [started transitioning].” </p>
<h2>Family and community connections</h2>
<p>While some trans people do experience rejection from their families of origin, that is not true for the majority of the community. In a 2015 national survey of over 27,700 trans adults, the U.S. Trans Survey, 60% of respondents reported having families who are <a href="https://transequality.org/sites/default/files/docs/usts/USTS-Full-Report-Dec17.pdf">supportive of their trans identity</a>.</p>
<p>Liza, a white trans woman in her 20s, has a close relationship with her brothers. “We are still a little triad. Yes, things change, but ultimately, I’m the same person just using a different name,” she said. “I can see myself as part of this family going forward. There’s no break. I’m not breaking anything by coming out.”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526889/original/file-20230517-25-oyufc4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Family and friends in a room celebrating" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526889/original/file-20230517-25-oyufc4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526889/original/file-20230517-25-oyufc4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526889/original/file-20230517-25-oyufc4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526889/original/file-20230517-25-oyufc4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526889/original/file-20230517-25-oyufc4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526889/original/file-20230517-25-oyufc4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526889/original/file-20230517-25-oyufc4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many trans people are supported by their families of origin and their chosen families.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/family-and-friends-coming-together-for-a-birthday-royalty-free-image/1398118272">Flashpop/DigitalVision via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Trans women also form <a href="https://www.familyequality.org/resources/finding-and-forming-a-chosen-family/">chosen families</a> with friends, co-workers and other community members. Relationships with other trans people can have particularly positive effects on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1089/lgbt.2019.0014">identity development and overall well-being</a>, including emotional resilience, self-acceptance and a sense of connection. </p>
<p>Jane, a Black trans woman in her 20s, has a tight-knit group of first-time parents she can call “whenever [she’s] freaking out,” no matter the scope of the emergency. While she laments her father’s lack of support, Jane’s friends are always there for her. “[T]hey come to visit, they bond with my son, [and] we get to spend time together like a big family, you know?” </p>
<h2>Trans community care</h2>
<p>In addition to caring for their biological and adopted children, the trans women I interviewed felt a responsibility to take care of their community. </p>
<p>Sometimes this care manifested as parent-child relationships, in which respondents provide financial or emotional support to LGBTQ+ youth. Maggie, a white woman in her 50s, didn’t know she was a parental figure for her “queer kids” until they tagged her on Instagram to celebrate Mother’s Day. </p>
<p>“Someone might go, ‘Hey, can I stay on your sofa tonight? I’m having a hard time.’ Well, yeah, of course,” she said. “Or they might hang around the shop [I work at], and only later it dawns on me, ‘Oh, this was the only place they could come and get affirmed and not feel weird.’”</p>
<p>Many also provide care outside their family units. Whitney, a Black trans woman in her 20s, reaches out to and tells local teachers they can refer parents of trans kids to her if they have any questions about how to support their children on their gender journeys or if their kids need someone to talk to.</p>
<p>Respondents like Whitney, who began questioning her gender identity in her early teens, also mentor trans women who are older than they. “Why not,” she told me, “if I have relevant experiences and can help make their lives easier?” </p>
<p>Miriam, a white trans woman in her 60s, agreed that she has a lot to learn from younger trans people. “A lot of my community today, people who I count as family and my beloveds, are not of my generation,” she said. ‘Beloveds’ is the term she uses to describe her platonic loved ones. “I learn a lot from my beloveds in their 20s and 30s, who don’t have the same baggage I [dealt with] about how I could be and who I could be.”</p>
<h2>Anti-trans hate as a self-fulfilling prophecy</h2>
<p>Anti-trans politicians deploy a variety of tactics to stigmatize transgender communities, from describing gender-affirming care <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/11/politics/gender-affirming-care-bans-transgender-rights/index.html">as mutilation</a> to falsely accusing trans people of <a href="https://www.hrc.org/press-releases/new-report-anti-lgbtq-grooming-narrative-surged-more-than-400-on-social-media-following-floridas-dont-say-gay-or-trans-law-as-social-platforms-enabled-extremist-politicians-and-their-allies-to-peddle-inflamatory-discriminatory-rhetoric">predatory behavior</a>. </p>
<p>While these politicians <a href="https://www.aclu.org/podcast/protecting-women-and-children-is-a-shield-for-transphobia">claim to be protecting children</a> by restricting access to gender-affirming care, a 2021 Trevor Project survey found that recent political events have <a href="https://www.thetrevorproject.org/survey-2021/?section=Introduction">harmed the mental health</a> of 94% of LGTBQ youth in the U.S. A study based on data from the 2015 U.S. Trans Survey found that harassment based on gender identity at school <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2021.06.001">also harms transgender youths</a>, resulting in higher rates of suicide attempts and suicidal thoughts.</p>
<p>In contrast, research has shown that starting hormone replacement therapy <a href="https://theconversation.com/transgender-youth-on-puberty-blockers-and-gender-affirming-hormones-have-lower-rates-of-depression-and-suicidal-thoughts-a-new-study-finds-177812">reduces the risk of suicide</a> by 73% for trans youth, <a href="https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2018/04/analysis-finds-strong-consensus-effectiveness-gender-transition-treatment">among other mental health benefits</a>. Another study found that trans people who start hormones as adolescents report <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0261039">lower levels of binge drinking, drug use and suicidality</a> than those who desired gender-affirming hormones but could not access them. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526907/original/file-20230517-17-80m0ex.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Trans youth holding signs reading 'PROTECT TRANS KIDS'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526907/original/file-20230517-17-80m0ex.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526907/original/file-20230517-17-80m0ex.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526907/original/file-20230517-17-80m0ex.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526907/original/file-20230517-17-80m0ex.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526907/original/file-20230517-17-80m0ex.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526907/original/file-20230517-17-80m0ex.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526907/original/file-20230517-17-80m0ex.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Legislation targeting trans youths has significantly harmed the children they intend to protect.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/GenderAffirmingCareBanKentucky/8766283f5ccc4352848130aca6a2b0fa">Timothy D. Easley/AP Photo</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For Adriana, who described beginning transition as the second happiest day of her life, after the day her daughter was born, fear of rejection kept her in denial of her trans identity. She used alcohol and made “reckless decisions” to cope with her gender dysphoria. Transitioning, meanwhile, brought her closer to her daughter. “I was never myself around her, not completely, which my daughter noticed,” she said. “We’ve always been close, but now that I’m genuinely happy with myself, we’re even closer.”</p>
<p>Amid efforts to <a href="https://rewirenewsgroup.com/2022/10/24/idaho-conservatives-want-to-ban-drag-performances/">criminalize drag shows</a> and <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/07/15/1055959/book-bans-social-media-harassment/">ban LGBTQ topics</a> from public schools, highlighting the joy of trans motherhood directly rejects myths that <a href="https://rewirenewsgroup.com/2023/03/14/we-are-not-groomers-how-anti-lgbtq-stereotypes-inhibit-reproductive-justice/">portray trans women as “groomers”</a> or otherwise dangerous to children. Extensive research shows that <a href="https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/publications/transgender-parenting/">having a transgender parent</a> does not affect children’s gender identity, sexual orientation or other developmental markers. Yet trans people experience discrimination in both <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/fcre.12354">adoption</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/swr/svz005">custody disputes</a> based on these pervasive myths. </p>
<p>Trans motherhood showcases the resilience of trans people who work diligently to take care of each other, even when they are failed by their communities and other institutions. Maria, an Indigenous Latina trans woman in her 30s, finds beauty in serving as a mother for the young queer and trans activists she works with. “I find it an honor that someone holds you in such high esteem that they want to call you their mom. … Because motherhood is a beautiful thing,” she said. “I think it’s a beautiful thing to help them in their journey to become the best versions of themselves.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203997/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Derek P. Siegel receives funding from the American Sociological Association. </span></em></p>Trans motherhood showcases the unique joys of being transgender, be it through developing a deeper connection with one’s own child or caring for others in one’s community.Derek P. Siegel, Ph.D. Candidate, Sociology, UMass AmherstLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.