ACTIVIST MOTHERING:
- 1 September 1992
- journal article
- research article
- Published by SAGE Publications in Gender & Society
- Vol. 6 (3) , 441-463
- https://doi.org/10.1177/089124392006003006
Abstract
This article examines the cross-generational continuity of community work performed by women living and working in low-income communities and demonstrates the complex ways in which gender, race-ethnicity, and class contribute to the social construction of mothering. The analysis of low-income women's community work challenges definitions of mothering that are limited to biological and legal expressions, thus neglecting the significance of community-based nurturing work for geographic communities and racial-ethnic and class-based groups. The analysis utilizes a broadened understanding of labor and contests the divisions between paid and unpaid work traditionally used to discuss women's work. The article compares and contrasts the experiences of African-American and Latina (predominantly Puerto Rican women) community workers from low-income communities in New York City and Philadelphia. The findings of the research further demonstrate the ways that knowledge generated from the standpoint of women from different classes and racial-ethnic backgrounds transforms our understanding of politics, labor, and mothering.This publication has 6 references indexed in Scilit:
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