First an Obstacle, Then Every Woman’s Dream: Discourses of Motherhood in Print Media, 1970–1979 versus 2010–2019

Abstract

In this article, we focus on how motherhood is represented in print media interviews with mothers over two distinct decades, 1970–1979 and 2010–2019, in Iceland. We used an affective-discursive framework to analyse 67 and 207 media interviews published in the two periods, respectively. In the former period, we found that mothers challenged prevalent feeling rules that encouraged them to put the family before their own needs. They used the interviews to advocate for their individual subjectivity and right to choose to be both mothers and earners. The societal changes were considered instrumental for women’s ability to make choices. In the latter period, discussions about motherhood as a barrier to women’s participation in the workforce were minimal. Mothers embraced the Nordic earner–carer model and even-handedly discussed their careers and motherhood. Motherhood was framed as a joyful enterprise and an individual choice that marked the pathway to women’s personal and emotional fulfilment. We conclude that discursive-affective constructions of motherhood imply neoliberal models of subjectivity that draw attention away from structural inequalities. In both periods, the public construction of motherhood revolved around the experiences of privileged, white, middle-class and heterosexual women, with limited attention to the experiences of marginalized mothers.

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