Mother-work : women, child welfare, and the state, 1890-1930
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Mother-work : women, child welfare, and the state, 1890-1930
(Women in American history)
University of Illinois Press, c1994
- : pbk
Available at 33 libraries
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  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
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  United Kingdom
  Germany
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  United States of America
Note
Includes bibliographical references and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Early in the twentieth century, maternal and child welfare evolved from a private family responsibility into a matter of national policy. Molly Ladd-Taylor explores both the private and public aspects of child-rearing, using the relationship between them to cast new light on the histories of motherhood, the welfare state, and women's activism in the United States.
Ladd-Taylor argues that mother-work, "women's unpaid work of reproduction and caregiving," motivated women's public activism and "maternalist" ideology. Mothering experiences led women to become active in the development of public health, education, and welfare services. In turn, the advent of these services altered mothering in many ways, including the reduction of the infant mortality rate.
Table of Contents
Introduction 1
Part 1
Mother-Work at Home
1. The Work of Mothering 17
Part Two
Mother-Work in the Community
2. "When the Birds Have Flown the Nest, the Mother-Work May Still Go On", Sentimental Maternalim and the National Congress of Mothers 43
3. "The Welfare of Mothers and Babies Is a Dignified Subject of Political Discussion", Progressive Materinalism and the Children's Bureau 74
4. "How Cruelly Unjust to Handicap All Women", Feminism and the Abandonment of Motherhood Rhetoric 104
Part Three
Mothers and the State
5. "Every Mother Has a Right", The Movement for Mothers' Pensions 135
6. "We Mothers Are So Glad the Day Has Come", Mothers' Work and the Sheppard-Towner Act 167
Conclusion 197
Index 207
by "Nielsen BookData"