Keele Research Repository
Explore the Repository
Budds, KM, Locke, A and Burr, V (2016) 'For some people it isn’t a choice, it’s just how it happens': accounts of ‘delayed’ motherhood among middle-class women in the UK. Feminism and Psychology, 26 (2). pp. 170-187. ISSN 0959-3535
Choice_F&P_FinalAccepted_unproofed.pdf - Accepted Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives.
Download (269kB) | Preview
Abstract
Over the past few decades the number of women having their first babies over the age of 35 in the United Kingdom has increased. Women’s timing of motherhood is invariably bound up with a discourse of “choice”, and in this paper we consider the role choice plays in the timing of motherhood among women who have been defined as “older” mothers. This article is based on data from 11 semi-structured interviews that explored the transition to motherhood among “older” middle-class mothers. The interviews were analysed using critical discursive psychology. The women drew upon two dominant repertoires when making sense of their timing of motherhood. Within the first repertoire, “older motherhood as circumstance”, older motherhood was presented as the outcome of life circumstances beyond their control, with a lack of the “right” circumstances facilitating “delayed” motherhood. Within the second repertoire, “older motherhood as readiness”, women constructed themselves as (now) prepared for motherhood. “Readiness” was bound up with notions of self-fulfilment, yet also assessments of their ability to be “good” mothers. We conclude that, far from a straightforward choice, the timing of motherhood is shaped by cultural definitions of the “right” circumstances for parenthood, but also cultural definitions of “good” motherhood, which may define when women are “ready”.
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
Additional Information: | © The Authors, Sage Publications |
Uncontrolled Keywords: | delayed motherhood, choice, timing, good mother, age |
Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Woman H Social Sciences > HT Communities. Classes. Races |
Divisions: | Faculty of Natural Sciences > School of Psychology |
Depositing User: | Symplectic |
Date Deposited: | 09 Feb 2016 09:37 |
Last Modified: | 12 Apr 2019 14:03 |
URI: | https://eprints.keele.ac.uk/id/eprint/1448 |