Maternalism
Encyclopedia
Maternalism refers to an attitude or a policy reminiscent of the non-hierarchic pattern of a family based on matriarchy
.
In this form of system, women use society in order to protect children from unnecessary harm. This system is the opposite of paternalism
; which refers to a policy that resembles the hierarchic
pattern of a family based on patriarchy
. Opponents of paternalism (and proponents of maternalism), such as John Stuart Mill
, claim that liberty
supersedes safety in terms of actions that only affect oneself. John Locke
argues in his Two Treatises of Government
essay that political power and paternal power are inherently different, and thus the former should not mirror the latter.
To improve the conditions of women and children these policies attempted to reconcile the conflicting roles placed on women during this time period. As single mothers were responsible for both supporting their families and raising children, government assistance would reduce the probability that they could be charged with neglecting their "home duties." Another concept of maternalism includes nationally-funded insurance against illness
, accident
s, disability
, and old age
. However, feminists in the 1970s found maternalism to be an epidemic of childbirths in women who previously thought of childbearing as "an epitome of proletarian
submissiveness;" or unpaid work damaging the body. Around 1980, these women were cuddling their babies and glorifying their animal instinct
s. This crisis led to the notion of maternalism being empty. Radical groups like the postmodern queer
s and the anti-capitalist
gender theorists declared maternalism to be a major heresy. Some trendy feminists would question maternalism with this phrase: "How dare you raise to the status of theory our Achilles' heel, maternity?"
However, maternalist policies have helped to encourage women's paid work, support women's care giving work in the home, guard women and their families against poverty, and differentiate among women based on ethnic/racial classifications and class status after the Cold War
.
in the United States
that attempted to bring about a more maternalistic government with a degree of success in addition to a degree of limitations. Jane Addams
would begin the maternalism movement in order to improve the health, education and welfare of American children. Under the banner of “social housekeeping,” professional reformers encouraged wives and mothers to make the world into a safer and more clean place to live. Addams wanted to create a new meaning of motherhood by cultural ideology that championed the emotional and social value of women’s attachment to children and family. To maternalist activists, the gateway to women’s political empowerment is revealed by engaging women in sentimental fervor over the innocence and vulnerability of children rather than challenging male dominance.
The idea of a maternal public policy emerged in the United States following the landmark United States Supreme Court decision Muller v. Oregon
, 208 U.S. 412 (1908). This case upheld the constitutionality of a law that limited the maximum working hours of women, reversing the previous Lochner v. New York
, 198 U.S. 45 (1905), in which setting maximum working hours for men was held to be unconstitutional. The decision in Muller was based on a scientific and sociological study that demonstrated that the government has a legitimate interest in the working conditions of women as they have the unique ability to bear children. Historians have considered the American maternalist policy to be beneficial to its welfare state
. By conceptualizing the source of women’s political power as an extension their domestic roles, maternalistic reformers have succceded in institutionalizing a class-bound ideology of mothering that set the standard for future social programs based on the "family wage." Maternalist polices have reduced the American infant mortality rate
from 30% in urban areas from 1900 to a significantly lower amount by 1930. Although maternalism has been depicted as a distinct branch of first-wave
(or early) feminism, there remains some debate about whether the objectives of maternalist reformers with women's rights
were successful or not.
However, the 1996 welfare system reform
has characterized the end to the "traditional" maternalist strand of U.S. social policy that dates back to the 1910s and 1920s. The introduction of the Earned Income Tax Credit
has ushered in a more employment
-based strand in the social policy of the United States. The EITC had practically eliminated a social right, made mothers virtually indistinguishable from fathers, and expanded the role of the free (capitalist) market in the provision of income and care. Contemporary historians, however, have seen the 1996 welfare reform as a historical break in transitioning from supporting motherhood to commodifiying women's labor. Up until 1996, families were key sites of intervention through which the American welfare state was erected, especially through single women as mothers—not wives. Due to a lack of welfare policies available to poor men, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
’ (TANF) marriage promotion policies have positioned poor women as nodes connecting the state to poor men while structuring the poor women as breadwinners, mothers, and wives simultaneously.
American law has mostly accomplished gender equality in parenting by doing away with gender classifications along with the attitudes that foster them. All laws relating to family, work, and civic participation in the United States of America are considered to be gender-neutral. As the Supreme Court’s 2003 decision in Nevada Department of Human Resources v. Hibbs
demonstrates, both Congress
and the Court have accepted the critiques of traditional gender role
s as told by feminists. However, the resultant legal reforms address only formal inequality - people still live with informal inequality. Changes in legal norms must be embraced throughout the culture in order for these promises to become a reality in everyday life. The most influential and resistant obstacle to actualizing gender equality is the continuing cultural practice of romanticizing the mother as a caregiver/homemaker symbol. American people must learn not to accept existing gendered family patterns as the results of freely made individual choices. Persistently gendered family care becomes self-fulfilling, and solidifies the very inequalities that the laws of a liberal democracy
tries to dislodge. The new maternalism is spread across Internet advocacy group
s and "Mommy blog
s" on the Internet. Equality outside the home requires equality inside it; making the "new maternalism" controversial for 21st century feminists.
Recent welfare reform has also started to target poor men directly, especially in fatherhood
and marriage promotion
initiatives.
starting in the 2000s has led to the criminalization of strip club
s. The law officially took effect on July 31, 2010.
With the banning of strip clubs, it is believed that Iceland's sex industry
will have to shut down permanently. Stripper
s that were under the employment of the newly-criminalized strip clubs will have to file for unemployment insurance (and eventually welfare if job prospects don't improve). Iceland has been declared the most "female-friendly" and feminist country in the world due to its maternalist policies.
Matriarchy
A matriarchy is a society in which females, especially mothers, have the central roles of political leadership and moral authority. It is also sometimes called a gynocratic or gynocentric society....
.
In this form of system, women use society in order to protect children from unnecessary harm. This system is the opposite of paternalism
Paternalism
Paternalism refers to attitudes or states of affairs that exemplify a traditional relationship between father and child. Two conditions of paternalism are usually identified: interference with liberty and a beneficent intention towards those whose liberty is interfered with...
; which refers to a policy that resembles the hierarchic
Hierarchy
A hierarchy is an arrangement of items in which the items are represented as being "above," "below," or "at the same level as" one another...
pattern of a family based on patriarchy
Patriarchy
Patriarchy is a social system in which the role of the male as the primary authority figure is central to social organization, and where fathers hold authority over women, children, and property. It implies the institutions of male rule and privilege, and entails female subordination...
. Opponents of paternalism (and proponents of maternalism), such as John Stuart Mill
John Stuart Mill
John Stuart Mill was a British philosopher, economist and civil servant. An influential contributor to social theory, political theory, and political economy, his conception of liberty justified the freedom of the individual in opposition to unlimited state control. He was a proponent of...
, claim that liberty
Freedom (political)
Political freedom is a central philosophy in Western history and political thought, and one of the most important features of democratic societies...
supersedes safety in terms of actions that only affect oneself. John Locke
John Locke
John Locke FRS , widely known as the Father of Liberalism, was an English philosopher and physician regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers. Considered one of the first of the British empiricists, following the tradition of Francis Bacon, he is equally important to social...
argues in his Two Treatises of Government
Two Treatises of Government
The Two Treatises of Government is a work of political philosophy published anonymously in 1689 by John Locke...
essay that political power and paternal power are inherently different, and thus the former should not mirror the latter.
Basic concept
Maternalism is defined by Koven and Michel as a variety of ideologies that "exalted women's capacities to mother and extended to society as a whole the values of care, nurturance and morality," and was intended to improve the quality of life of women and children.To improve the conditions of women and children these policies attempted to reconcile the conflicting roles placed on women during this time period. As single mothers were responsible for both supporting their families and raising children, government assistance would reduce the probability that they could be charged with neglecting their "home duties." Another concept of maternalism includes nationally-funded insurance against illness
Illness
Illness is a state of poor health. Illness is sometimes considered another word for disease. Others maintain that fine distinctions exist...
, accident
Accident
An accident or mishap is an unforeseen and unplanned event or circumstance, often with lack of intention or necessity. It implies a generally negative outcome which may have been avoided or prevented had circumstances leading up to the accident been recognized, and acted upon, prior to its...
s, disability
Disability
A disability may be physical, cognitive, mental, sensory, emotional, developmental or some combination of these.Many people would rather be referred to as a person with a disability instead of handicapped...
, and old age
Old age
Old age consists of ages nearing or surpassing the average life span of human beings, and thus the end of the human life cycle...
. However, feminists in the 1970s found maternalism to be an epidemic of childbirths in women who previously thought of childbearing as "an epitome of proletarian
Proletariat
The proletariat is a term used to identify a lower social class, usually the working class; a member of such a class is proletarian...
submissiveness;" or unpaid work damaging the body. Around 1980, these women were cuddling their babies and glorifying their animal instinct
Instinct
Instinct or innate behavior is the inherent inclination of a living organism toward a particular behavior.The simplest example of an instinctive behavior is a fixed action pattern, in which a very short to medium length sequence of actions, without variation, are carried out in response to a...
s. This crisis led to the notion of maternalism being empty. Radical groups like the postmodern queer
Queer
Queer is an umbrella term for sexual minorities that are not heterosexual, heteronormative, or gender-binary. In the context of Western identity politics the term also acts as a label setting queer-identifying people apart from discourse, ideologies, and lifestyles that typify mainstream LGBT ...
s and the anti-capitalist
Anti-capitalism
Anti-capitalism describes a wide variety of movements, ideas, and attitudes which oppose capitalism. Anti-capitalists, in the strict sense of the word, are those who wish to completely replace capitalism with another system....
gender theorists declared maternalism to be a major heresy. Some trendy feminists would question maternalism with this phrase: "How dare you raise to the status of theory our Achilles' heel, maternity?"
However, maternalist policies have helped to encourage women's paid work, support women's care giving work in the home, guard women and their families against poverty, and differentiate among women based on ethnic/racial classifications and class status after the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
.
Pre-21st century United States
There has been reformsMaternalist reform
Maternalist Reforms in the United States were experiments in public policy that took the form of laws providing for state assistance for mothers with young children that did not have the financial support of a male member of the household. This assistance took the form of financial reimbursements,...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
that attempted to bring about a more maternalistic government with a degree of success in addition to a degree of limitations. Jane Addams
Jane Addams
Jane Addams was a pioneer settlement worker, founder of Hull House in Chicago, public philosopher, sociologist, author, and leader in woman suffrage and world peace...
would begin the maternalism movement in order to improve the health, education and welfare of American children. Under the banner of “social housekeeping,” professional reformers encouraged wives and mothers to make the world into a safer and more clean place to live. Addams wanted to create a new meaning of motherhood by cultural ideology that championed the emotional and social value of women’s attachment to children and family. To maternalist activists, the gateway to women’s political empowerment is revealed by engaging women in sentimental fervor over the innocence and vulnerability of children rather than challenging male dominance.
The idea of a maternal public policy emerged in the United States following the landmark United States Supreme Court decision Muller v. Oregon
Muller v. Oregon
Muller v. Oregon, , was a landmark decision in United States Supreme Court history, as it justifies both sex discrimination and usage of labor laws during the time period...
, 208 U.S. 412 (1908). This case upheld the constitutionality of a law that limited the maximum working hours of women, reversing the previous Lochner v. New York
Lochner v. New York
Lochner vs. New York, , was a landmark United States Supreme Court case that held a "liberty of contract" was implicit in the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The case involved a New York law that limited the number of hours that a baker could work each day to ten, and limited the...
, 198 U.S. 45 (1905), in which setting maximum working hours for men was held to be unconstitutional. The decision in Muller was based on a scientific and sociological study that demonstrated that the government has a legitimate interest in the working conditions of women as they have the unique ability to bear children. Historians have considered the American maternalist policy to be beneficial to its welfare state
Welfare state
A welfare state is a "concept of government in which the state plays a key role in the protection and promotion of the economic and social well-being of its citizens. It is based on the principles of equality of opportunity, equitable distribution of wealth, and public responsibility for those...
. By conceptualizing the source of women’s political power as an extension their domestic roles, maternalistic reformers have succceded in institutionalizing a class-bound ideology of mothering that set the standard for future social programs based on the "family wage." Maternalist polices have reduced the American infant mortality rate
Infant mortality
Infant mortality is defined as the number of infant deaths per 1000 live births. Traditionally, the most common cause worldwide was dehydration from diarrhea. However, the spreading information about Oral Re-hydration Solution to mothers around the world has decreased the rate of children dying...
from 30% in urban areas from 1900 to a significantly lower amount by 1930. Although maternalism has been depicted as a distinct branch of first-wave
First-wave feminism
First-wave feminism refers to a period of feminist activity during the 19th and early twentieth century in the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States. It focused on de jure inequalities, primarily on gaining women's suffrage .The term first-wave was coined retroactively in the 1970s...
(or early) feminism, there remains some debate about whether the objectives of maternalist reformers with women's rights
Women's rights
Women's rights are entitlements and freedoms claimed for women and girls of all ages in many societies.In some places these rights are institutionalized or supported by law, local custom, and behaviour, whereas in others they may be ignored or suppressed...
were successful or not.
However, the 1996 welfare system reform
Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act
The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 is a United States federal law considered to be a fundamental shift in both the method and goal of federal cash assistance to the poor. The bill added a workforce development component to welfare legislation, encouraging...
has characterized the end to the "traditional" maternalist strand of U.S. social policy that dates back to the 1910s and 1920s. The introduction of the Earned Income Tax Credit
Earned income tax credit
The United States federal earned income tax credit or earned income credit is a refundable tax credit primarily for individuals and families who have low to moderate earned income. Greater tax credit is given to those who also have qualifying children...
has ushered in a more employment
Employment
Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. An employee may be defined as:- Employee :...
-based strand in the social policy of the United States. The EITC had practically eliminated a social right, made mothers virtually indistinguishable from fathers, and expanded the role of the free (capitalist) market in the provision of income and care. Contemporary historians, however, have seen the 1996 welfare reform as a historical break in transitioning from supporting motherhood to commodifiying women's labor. Up until 1996, families were key sites of intervention through which the American welfare state was erected, especially through single women as mothers—not wives. Due to a lack of welfare policies available to poor men, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families is one of the United States of America's federal assistance programs. It began on July 2, 1997, and succeeded the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program, providing cash assistance to indigent American families with dependent children through the...
’ (TANF) marriage promotion policies have positioned poor women as nodes connecting the state to poor men while structuring the poor women as breadwinners, mothers, and wives simultaneously.
21st century United States
The biggest challenge for gender equality in the 21st century is to eliminate the difference between traditionally feminine and traditionally masculine responsibilities in family caregiving.American law has mostly accomplished gender equality in parenting by doing away with gender classifications along with the attitudes that foster them. All laws relating to family, work, and civic participation in the United States of America are considered to be gender-neutral. As the Supreme Court’s 2003 decision in Nevada Department of Human Resources v. Hibbs
Nevada Department of Human Resources v. Hibbs
Nevada Department of Human Resources v. Hibbs, 538 U.S. 721 , was a United States Supreme Court case which held that the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 was "narrowly targeted" at "sex-based overgeneralization" and was thus a "valid exercise of its power under Section 5 of the Fourteenth...
demonstrates, both Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
and the Court have accepted the critiques of traditional gender role
Gender role
Gender roles refer to the set of social and behavioral norms that are considered to be socially appropriate for individuals of a specific sex in the context of a specific culture, which differ widely between cultures and over time...
s as told by feminists. However, the resultant legal reforms address only formal inequality - people still live with informal inequality. Changes in legal norms must be embraced throughout the culture in order for these promises to become a reality in everyday life. The most influential and resistant obstacle to actualizing gender equality is the continuing cultural practice of romanticizing the mother as a caregiver/homemaker symbol. American people must learn not to accept existing gendered family patterns as the results of freely made individual choices. Persistently gendered family care becomes self-fulfilling, and solidifies the very inequalities that the laws of a liberal democracy
Liberal democracy
Liberal democracy, also known as constitutional democracy, is a common form of representative democracy. According to the principles of liberal democracy, elections should be free and fair, and the political process should be competitive...
tries to dislodge. The new maternalism is spread across Internet advocacy group
Advocacy group
Advocacy groups use various forms of advocacy to influence public opinion and/or policy; they have played and continue to play an important part in the development of political and social systems...
s and "Mommy blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
s" on the Internet. Equality outside the home requires equality inside it; making the "new maternalism" controversial for 21st century feminists.
Recent welfare reform has also started to target poor men directly, especially in fatherhood
Father
A father, Pop, Dad, or Papa, is defined as a male parent of any type of offspring. The adjective "paternal" refers to father, parallel to "maternal" for mother...
and marriage promotion
Marriage promotion
Marriage promotion is a neoliberal policy aiming to produce “strong families” for the purposes of social security; as found in 21st century American maternalism.The George W...
initiatives.
Iceland
Maternalist policies created by the female-dominated Parliament in IcelandAlthing
The Alþingi, anglicised variously as Althing or Althingi, is the national parliament of Iceland. The Althingi is the oldest parliamentary institution in the world still extant...
starting in the 2000s has led to the criminalization of strip club
Strip club
A strip club is an adult entertainment venue in which striptease or other erotic or exotic dance is regularly performed. Strip clubs typically adopt a nightclub or bar style, but can also adopt a theatre or cabaret-style....
s. The law officially took effect on July 31, 2010.
With the banning of strip clubs, it is believed that Iceland's sex industry
Sex industry
The sex industry consists of businesses which either directly or indirectly provide sex-related products and services or adult entertainment...
will have to shut down permanently. Stripper
Stripper
A stripper is a professional erotic dancer who performs a contemporary form of striptease at strip club establishments, public exhibitions, and private engagements. Unlike in burlesque, the performer in the modern Americanized form of stripping minimizes the interaction of customer and dancer,...
s that were under the employment of the newly-criminalized strip clubs will have to file for unemployment insurance (and eventually welfare if job prospects don't improve). Iceland has been declared the most "female-friendly" and feminist country in the world due to its maternalist policies.
Supporters
These are the names of notable people who supported maternalism in addition to a maternalist policy:- Julia LathropJulia LathropJulia Clifford Lathrop was an American social reformer in the area of education, social policy, and children's welfare...
- Jane AddamsJane AddamsJane Addams was a pioneer settlement worker, founder of Hull House in Chicago, public philosopher, sociologist, author, and leader in woman suffrage and world peace...
- Ellen Gates StarrEllen Gates StarrEllen Gates Starr was an American social reformer and activist.-Biography:...
- Sophonisba BreckinridgeSophonisba BreckinridgeSophonisba Preston Breckinridge was an American activist, Progressive Era social reformer, social scientist and innovator in higher education.- Background :...
- Josephine Clara GoldmarkJosephine Clara GoldmarkJosephine Clara Goldmark was an advocate of labor law reform in the United States during the early 20th century. Her work against child labor and for wages-and-hours legislation was influential in the passage of the Keating-Owen Act in 1916 and the later Fair Labor Standards Act of 1937.-Labor...
- Florence KelleyFlorence KelleyFlorence Kelley was an American social and political reformer. Her work against sweatshops and for the minimum wage, eight-hour workdays, and children's rights is widely regarded today.-Family:...
External links
- John Locke, The Two Treatises of Civil Government (Hollis ed.) [1689] The Online Library of Liberty