Periodic Reporting for period 1 - FSCF (Alternative Families Social Change: An interdisciplinary and cross-national study)
Période du rapport: 2018-09-01 au 2020-08-31
What is the problema being addressed ?
Single mothers by choice constitute an alternative to dominant notions of the family. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (2015) found that there has been a 226% increase in the number of women choosing to go through IVF alone in the UK since 2006. The number has increased fourfold in Spain in the last seven years. This study will examine alternative motherhood constituted through assisted reproductive technologies in the UK and in Spain and will investigate four interconnected themes: a) being a mother and being mothered are both permeated with socio-cultural, political, economic and psychological significance as everyone has an interest in the social organisation of motherhood, although these interests vary; b) at the same time inequalities involving ethnicity, class and sexual orientation, can be particularly powerful in relationship to mothering; and c) the struggle over the question of how best to reorganise social institutions, such as workplaces and schools, so that they adjust to mothering, women´s freedom and equal opportunity. Ethnographic methods will be used to construct a more holistic understanding of the complexities of politics, policy and power from an interdisciplinary perspective. This study will broaden our knowledge of the ways in which discourses of mothering and motherhood both shape and are shaped by various practices, constraints and experiences cross-nationally.
Why is it important for society?
This study will contribute to society in four important ways: 1) It will examine motherhood under three interconnected themes: motherhood as institution, single motherhood by choice as experience, and as a site for social change. This research will study what changes are needed in public-social policy, education, the workplace and the family to improve full and lasting gender equality for mothers. 2) This study aims to comprehend the complexities of politics, policy and power from an interdisciplinary perspective in order to broaden our awareness and understanding of the diverse positions and meanings of motherhood. 3) This work aims to construct a more complex understanding of the ways in which discourses of mothering and motherhood both shape and are shaped by various practices and experiences cross-nationally. 4) This study will illuminate how alternative families may be a site of empowerment and a location for social change for women that resist replicating "conventional" standards of motherhood and raise children who may comply with expectations of gender stereotypes damaging to the child and to society.
What are the overall objectives?
The objectives of this study are the following: 1) To examine who has the power to make their definitions of motherhood and good mothering stick in Spain & in the UK. Do these women – single mothers by choice - accommodate or resist those definitions or find themselves doing both? 2) To study how that power is exercised through specific social institutions and cultural ideologies. How the institution of motherhood impacts on the daily lives of women and their children? 3) To explore how motherhood is enacted in and reinforced by public policy and how women juggle earning a living and parenting their children. 4) To analyse how personal stories and social histories intersect to enable women to pursue single motherhood by choice, 5) To explore what mothers´ own perspectives are on motherhood and mothering, 6) To study how ideas about motherhood change over time and vary across social contexts. 7) To analyse how women manage the gender hierarchy of daily life which they cannot control while they may simultaneously encourage their children to resist it, 8) To study whether a conscious choice of single motherhood challenges traditional practices of gender socialisation for their children.
Single mothers by choice constitute an alternative to dominant notions of the family. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (2015) found that there has been a 226% increase in the number of women choosing to go through IVF alone in the UK since 2006. The number has increased fourfold in Spain in the last seven years. This study will examine alternative motherhood constituted through assisted reproductive technologies in the UK and in Spain and will investigate four interconnected themes: a) being a mother and being mothered are both permeated with socio-cultural, political, economic and psychological significance as everyone has an interest in the social organisation of motherhood, although these interests vary; b) at the same time inequalities involving ethnicity, class and sexual orientation, can be particularly powerful in relationship to mothering; and c) the struggle over the question of how best to reorganise social institutions, such as workplaces and schools, so that they adjust to mothering, women´s freedom and equal opportunity. Ethnographic methods will be used to construct a more holistic understanding of the complexities of politics, policy and power from an interdisciplinary perspective. This study will broaden our knowledge of the ways in which discourses of mothering and motherhood both shape and are shaped by various practices, constraints and experiences cross-nationally.
Why is it important for society?
This study will contribute to society in four important ways: 1) It will examine motherhood under three interconnected themes: motherhood as institution, single motherhood by choice as experience, and as a site for social change. This research will study what changes are needed in public-social policy, education, the workplace and the family to improve full and lasting gender equality for mothers. 2) This study aims to comprehend the complexities of politics, policy and power from an interdisciplinary perspective in order to broaden our awareness and understanding of the diverse positions and meanings of motherhood. 3) This work aims to construct a more complex understanding of the ways in which discourses of mothering and motherhood both shape and are shaped by various practices and experiences cross-nationally. 4) This study will illuminate how alternative families may be a site of empowerment and a location for social change for women that resist replicating "conventional" standards of motherhood and raise children who may comply with expectations of gender stereotypes damaging to the child and to society.
What are the overall objectives?
The objectives of this study are the following: 1) To examine who has the power to make their definitions of motherhood and good mothering stick in Spain & in the UK. Do these women – single mothers by choice - accommodate or resist those definitions or find themselves doing both? 2) To study how that power is exercised through specific social institutions and cultural ideologies. How the institution of motherhood impacts on the daily lives of women and their children? 3) To explore how motherhood is enacted in and reinforced by public policy and how women juggle earning a living and parenting their children. 4) To analyse how personal stories and social histories intersect to enable women to pursue single motherhood by choice, 5) To explore what mothers´ own perspectives are on motherhood and mothering, 6) To study how ideas about motherhood change over time and vary across social contexts. 7) To analyse how women manage the gender hierarchy of daily life which they cannot control while they may simultaneously encourage their children to resist it, 8) To study whether a conscious choice of single motherhood challenges traditional practices of gender socialisation for their children.
WP.1: Literature review, examination of statistical data. By month 2 I completed preliminary of surveying current research literature.
WP.2: Preliminary phase, research design. Pilot study. Selection & sampling. By month 4 the sample was selected. Big Net Approach. Identification of key informants. Test of research methods accomplished.
WP.3. Phase 1. Fieldwork London. Data collection and analysis. By month 10 I completed research on Phase 1. I wrote two peer reviewed articles
WP.4. Phase 2. Fieldwork Madrid. Data collection (trips to Madrid to collect data) and analysis.
List of major deliverables
Deliverables: 1. Journal article number: Bravo-Moreno, A. 2019. Choice mums and children´s education. Does feminism matter? A qualitative study. Qualitative Report 27(4), 921-947.
Deliverable 2. Journal article: Bravo-Moreno, A. (in press) "Deconstructing “single” mothers by choice: Transcending blood, genes and the biological nuclear family? SAGE Open (in press)
Communication and public engagement: 1) I gave a presentation on Marie S Curie Fellowships on the 28th of November, 2018 at the the UCL, 2) I gave a presentation about my research project at a NGO "Madres solteras por elección" in Madrid on the 22nd of april, 2019
Dissemination: I disseminated my preliminary research findings at an international conference: AFIN XI AFIN: TOWARDS REPRODUCTIVE (IN)JUSTICE?: MOBILITIES, TECHNOLOGIES, LABOURINGS & DECISIONS. 4th of September, 2019 and at the Reproduction Research Group at theThomas Coram Research Unit (UCL & IoE) on the 9th of July, 2019
WP.2: Preliminary phase, research design. Pilot study. Selection & sampling. By month 4 the sample was selected. Big Net Approach. Identification of key informants. Test of research methods accomplished.
WP.3. Phase 1. Fieldwork London. Data collection and analysis. By month 10 I completed research on Phase 1. I wrote two peer reviewed articles
WP.4. Phase 2. Fieldwork Madrid. Data collection (trips to Madrid to collect data) and analysis.
List of major deliverables
Deliverables: 1. Journal article number: Bravo-Moreno, A. 2019. Choice mums and children´s education. Does feminism matter? A qualitative study. Qualitative Report 27(4), 921-947.
Deliverable 2. Journal article: Bravo-Moreno, A. (in press) "Deconstructing “single” mothers by choice: Transcending blood, genes and the biological nuclear family? SAGE Open (in press)
Communication and public engagement: 1) I gave a presentation on Marie S Curie Fellowships on the 28th of November, 2018 at the the UCL, 2) I gave a presentation about my research project at a NGO "Madres solteras por elección" in Madrid on the 22nd of april, 2019
Dissemination: I disseminated my preliminary research findings at an international conference: AFIN XI AFIN: TOWARDS REPRODUCTIVE (IN)JUSTICE?: MOBILITIES, TECHNOLOGIES, LABOURINGS & DECISIONS. 4th of September, 2019 and at the Reproduction Research Group at theThomas Coram Research Unit (UCL & IoE) on the 9th of July, 2019
WP.5. Writing up draft of data analysis that includes Phase 1 and Phase 2. By month 22 I will have written a draft of the report based on the analysis undertaken in WP.3 and WP.4
WP. 6. Writing up final report.
List of major deliverables
During the following years of my fellowship, I will submit one book chapter to Springer for which the dealine is January, 2020 (deliverable 3) and two articles for peer-reviewed journals. At the
end of month 20, I will submit an article to a peer-reviewed journal such as the Journal of Family Studies (Taylor & Francis) on the findings of the fieldwork conducted in the UK (Deliverable 4).
At the end of month 26, I will submit an article to the European Journal of Women's Studies (Sage)
on the comparison of the findings of Phase 1 and 2 of my research (Deliverable 5). These journal articles will lay the foundations for a major monograph to be written subsequent to the fellowship period (Deliverable 6).
List of major milestones
Communication and public engagement: I will co-organize with my supervisor 3 one-day workshops during months 16, 22, and 28. I will contribute a lecture to the UCL annual workshop for disadvantaged school students during summer 2020 and I will organise a public forum on Family & Gender by month 24.
Dissemination: Prior to completion of my major deliverables, I will disseminate my research at several UK and international seminars and conferences, thereby also receiving valuable feedback on my research prior to publication of my findings. I expect to deliver no fewer than 4 such papers in months 12-24 (such as the Congress of the European Society on Family Relations) and no fewer than 5 papers by month 33. By month 18 I will offer an article to The Huffington Post that has international editions. By month 21, I will have explored the possibility of a radio programme focused on my research.
WP. 6. Writing up final report.
List of major deliverables
During the following years of my fellowship, I will submit one book chapter to Springer for which the dealine is January, 2020 (deliverable 3) and two articles for peer-reviewed journals. At the
end of month 20, I will submit an article to a peer-reviewed journal such as the Journal of Family Studies (Taylor & Francis) on the findings of the fieldwork conducted in the UK (Deliverable 4).
At the end of month 26, I will submit an article to the European Journal of Women's Studies (Sage)
on the comparison of the findings of Phase 1 and 2 of my research (Deliverable 5). These journal articles will lay the foundations for a major monograph to be written subsequent to the fellowship period (Deliverable 6).
List of major milestones
Communication and public engagement: I will co-organize with my supervisor 3 one-day workshops during months 16, 22, and 28. I will contribute a lecture to the UCL annual workshop for disadvantaged school students during summer 2020 and I will organise a public forum on Family & Gender by month 24.
Dissemination: Prior to completion of my major deliverables, I will disseminate my research at several UK and international seminars and conferences, thereby also receiving valuable feedback on my research prior to publication of my findings. I expect to deliver no fewer than 4 such papers in months 12-24 (such as the Congress of the European Society on Family Relations) and no fewer than 5 papers by month 33. By month 18 I will offer an article to The Huffington Post that has international editions. By month 21, I will have explored the possibility of a radio programme focused on my research.