Periodic Reporting for period 1 - STRESS-Mums (Study on TRansition and Exclusion in Society of Single-Mums)
Período documentado: 2019-09-02 hasta 2021-09-01
The project looks at (1) how lone mothers negotiate between the dominant definition of family and parenthood proposed by institutions and professionals and the multiple situated definitions embodied and enacted by themselves as mothers, and (2) how they claim for social inclusion during the phase of transition that concerns their separation or divorce.
The project aims to understand how parenthood and family, as “gendered realized” (reified) categories of thought, affect lone mothers’ trajectories during that transition, and the difficulties that these mothers face and the solutions that they enact in that phase of transition.
These topics are important for the society as (1) in European countries, lone motherhood is considered an increasing social problem, not only for its statistical visibility (visible since the 1990s, its projections to 2025-2030 suggest an increase), but also for its changing nature: now lone parents are mainly divorced and separated women, with a small percentage of men, and (2) many studies call attention to the conditions of partial citizenship in which some of these women live, and the effects that this can have on their children.
This project takes into consideration one of the priorities described by the Horizon 2020 Programme, gender equality, and the need to study the everyday strategies and social practices that lone mothers act and use to claim social inclusion as processes of ‘active’ social citizenship.
Furthermore, as one of the goals of the MSCA Individual Fellowship is to foster the development of the researcher, this project included not only training-through-research activities but also specific training activities and transfer of knowledge which helped the Fellow in restarting her research career after a long break.
The project aims to understand how parenthood and family, as “gendered realized” (reified) categories of thought, affect lone mothers’ trajectories during that transition, and the difficulties that these mothers face and the solutions that they enact in that phase of transition.
These topics are important for the society as (1) in European countries, lone motherhood is considered an increasing social problem, not only for its statistical visibility (visible since the 1990s, its projections to 2025-2030 suggest an increase), but also for its changing nature: now lone parents are mainly divorced and separated women, with a small percentage of men, and (2) many studies call attention to the conditions of partial citizenship in which some of these women live, and the effects that this can have on their children.
This project takes into consideration one of the priorities described by the Horizon 2020 Programme, gender equality, and the need to study the everyday strategies and social practices that lone mothers act and use to claim social inclusion as processes of ‘active’ social citizenship.
Furthermore, as one of the goals of the MSCA Individual Fellowship is to foster the development of the researcher, this project included not only training-through-research activities but also specific training activities and transfer of knowledge which helped the Fellow in restarting her research career after a long break.
The activities of this project were organized into six specific work packages.
During the project, the Fellow developed and improved collaborations and professional ties with the following institutions:
- The University of Edinburgh, School of Social and Political Science
- Instituto Universitario de Investigación de Estudios de las Mujeres y de Género de la Universidad de Granada
- The Institutional Ethnography Nordic Network, University of Agder
- Centro di Ateneo Elena Cornaro per i Saperi, le Culture e le Politiche di Genere, University of Padua.
Thanks to this Marie Sklodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship the Fellow has developed a more solid experience as a researcher, and it has improved and boosted her academic career. In particular, the Fellow has improved her: (1) theoretical knowledge, (2) methodological knowledge, (3) English language skills, (4) skills in writing proposals and publishing in journals; (5) skills in organizing academic events and outreach events, and 6) skills in networking.
At the end of the fellowship, the Fellow completed 73 training activities and conducted activities to transfer her knowledge to professionals, young researchers, and students.
The research project was conducted in three European countries – Belgium, Italy, Spain – by utilizing the Institutional Ethnography approach, with different qualitative research methods.
The Fellow conducted the fieldwork using the following methods:
1) a first discursive interview with lone mothers (ten interviews for each country).
2) a second discursive interview (two interviews for each country) with lone mothers focused on the legal documents of their separation (participants were selected among the mothers already interviewed at the first interview).
3) analysis of legal documents provided by the mothers for the second interview.
4) an “interview to the double” with three professionals (lawyers, social workers, and court-appointed experts in the field of psychology) and a gender activist for each country.
5) analysis of two events on shared custody and parental responsibilities evaluation.
6) photovoice sessions (one for each country) involving the mothers who were interviewed at point 1.
Results show that the introduction of children's shared custody by default has changed the practices and discourses surrounding the family crisis. However, the mothers interviewed highlight the need to consider properly - during the phase of judicial evaluation - the power relations within the family field that often saw women in a situation of subordination, with lower economic and cultural capital than men. Furthermore, the interviews underline that, when women are victims of domestic violence, in-court procedures concerning shared custody seem to not consider properly the need to protect these women and their children from different forms of violence. Furthermore, the results show how lone mothers try to negotiate the dominant definition of family and parenthood and how they ask for support during their journey through the judicial institutions, and how the institutions shape their requests.
The Research Fellow has delivered ten conference papers and she has an additional two conference papers underway. Then, she has delivered six publications (three articles, two book chapters, one review) and she has an additional four journal manuscripts and one book underway. Furthermore, she delivered many presentations and webinars, videoclips, and an International event on Institutional Ethnography.
During the project, the Fellow developed and improved collaborations and professional ties with the following institutions:
- The University of Edinburgh, School of Social and Political Science
- Instituto Universitario de Investigación de Estudios de las Mujeres y de Género de la Universidad de Granada
- The Institutional Ethnography Nordic Network, University of Agder
- Centro di Ateneo Elena Cornaro per i Saperi, le Culture e le Politiche di Genere, University of Padua.
Thanks to this Marie Sklodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship the Fellow has developed a more solid experience as a researcher, and it has improved and boosted her academic career. In particular, the Fellow has improved her: (1) theoretical knowledge, (2) methodological knowledge, (3) English language skills, (4) skills in writing proposals and publishing in journals; (5) skills in organizing academic events and outreach events, and 6) skills in networking.
At the end of the fellowship, the Fellow completed 73 training activities and conducted activities to transfer her knowledge to professionals, young researchers, and students.
The research project was conducted in three European countries – Belgium, Italy, Spain – by utilizing the Institutional Ethnography approach, with different qualitative research methods.
The Fellow conducted the fieldwork using the following methods:
1) a first discursive interview with lone mothers (ten interviews for each country).
2) a second discursive interview (two interviews for each country) with lone mothers focused on the legal documents of their separation (participants were selected among the mothers already interviewed at the first interview).
3) analysis of legal documents provided by the mothers for the second interview.
4) an “interview to the double” with three professionals (lawyers, social workers, and court-appointed experts in the field of psychology) and a gender activist for each country.
5) analysis of two events on shared custody and parental responsibilities evaluation.
6) photovoice sessions (one for each country) involving the mothers who were interviewed at point 1.
Results show that the introduction of children's shared custody by default has changed the practices and discourses surrounding the family crisis. However, the mothers interviewed highlight the need to consider properly - during the phase of judicial evaluation - the power relations within the family field that often saw women in a situation of subordination, with lower economic and cultural capital than men. Furthermore, the interviews underline that, when women are victims of domestic violence, in-court procedures concerning shared custody seem to not consider properly the need to protect these women and their children from different forms of violence. Furthermore, the results show how lone mothers try to negotiate the dominant definition of family and parenthood and how they ask for support during their journey through the judicial institutions, and how the institutions shape their requests.
The Research Fellow has delivered ten conference papers and she has an additional two conference papers underway. Then, she has delivered six publications (three articles, two book chapters, one review) and she has an additional four journal manuscripts and one book underway. Furthermore, she delivered many presentations and webinars, videoclips, and an International event on Institutional Ethnography.
Studies on lone mothers usually underline their conditions of social fragility: to use a metaphor, as a photographic negative. However, this research project highlights not only the difficulties of these mothers but also the solutions that they enact; so that after the photograph’s development, we have a positive image. With attention to the debate on gender equality as mainstream in Europe, this study provides new perspectives on lone mothers’ social problem and offers data useful for the devising of evidence-based and sustainable policies, regulations, family law, procedural guidelines, and organizational practices able to counter those social processes of construction of differences and inequalities, which affect the lives of adults and children, and that, in various ways, have an impact on public expenditure.
Furthermore, this project responded to fill in the lack of studies on lone mothers’ everyday life and gendered social dynamics, as underlined by the literature. In particular, by using the approach of Institutional Ethnography, this study made it possible to investigate particular social processes and practices through the direct and detailed experience of people involved. Moreover, this study responded to the invitation to refine theoretically the idea of ‘family’ as a field suggested by one of the most influential sociologists of the twentieth century, Pierre Bourdieu, and highlights the validity of his conceptual tools in analyzing the structural crises of the family field.
Furthermore, this project responded to fill in the lack of studies on lone mothers’ everyday life and gendered social dynamics, as underlined by the literature. In particular, by using the approach of Institutional Ethnography, this study made it possible to investigate particular social processes and practices through the direct and detailed experience of people involved. Moreover, this study responded to the invitation to refine theoretically the idea of ‘family’ as a field suggested by one of the most influential sociologists of the twentieth century, Pierre Bourdieu, and highlights the validity of his conceptual tools in analyzing the structural crises of the family field.