Self or children? Navigating intensive mothering ideology and maternal agency for rural-to-urban migrant working mothers in China

Abstract

The prevalent norm of motherhood in contemporary societies is intensive mothering, which is child-centred. As a result, mothers are characterized positively only when they sacrifice unconditionally for their children. Chinese rural-to-urban migrant working mothers (RUMWMs) are low-class working mothers who must relocate for higher wages because of their living circumstances and are forced to leave their children behind. This leads to difficulty in achieving the ideal image of a good mother. This article draws on in-depth interviews with 31 RUMWMs in China to examine whether their responses to the ideology of intensive mothering (in both thoughts and actions) are self-focused or child-oriented. The findings suggest that these mothers’ tactics fit into one of four categories. Most of the mothers’ responses demonstrate their maternal agency as they boldly redefine competent mothering in their own ways. This article provides an agency-oriented perspective on how lower-class mothers redefine or negotiate the dominant mainstream intensive mothering ideology.

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