‘I’m so much more myself now, coming back to work’ - working class mothers, paid work and childcare.



mothers are required to meet these imperatives, working class women have to do so
from within a context of limited economic resources.

With this in mind, we explore in this paper how respondent mothers from working
class London families negotiate their roles around mothering and paid work. In the
following, we focus on mothers’ perceptions of work; mothering and paid work; and
childcare in relation to paid employment.

Working class mothers, work and policy

Research suggests that poor and working class mothers prefer their role as mother to
that as worker. Jordan et al. (1992) in a study of working class families’ employment
decisions on a council estate in Exeter in the late 80s observe how the mothers they
interviewed constructed themselves primarily as caregivers, even if their paid
employment made a crucial financial contribution to the household’s income by
lifting the family out of poverty. They note the moral imperative that shaped the
mothers’ narratives, placing the needs of children first, above paid work and far above
any other considerations of personal development or fulfilment outside of
motherhood. Equally, McMahon observes how the working class mothers in her
study describe their path to motherhood as one of shifting perspectives and priorities
culminating in ‘put[ing] others first’, which she terms a ‘process of moral reform’
(1995, p. 168). She argues that this focus on family is in fact a coping mechanism
where commitment to one’s children is an attempt to make up for material
shortcomings experienced by the children. The poor financial rewards of low paid
jobs and the ‘cost’ of forfeiting state benefits, as well as a lack of affordable good



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