Shadow Mothers

Nannies, Au Pairs, and the Micropolitics of Mothering

Bibliographic Data

ID19944206
AuthorsCameron Lynne Macdonald (corresponding author)
Year2011
Pages288
Publication date2011-02-09
Open AccessNo
TypeBOOK
VenueShadow Mothers (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherUniversity of California Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1525/9780520947818
OpenAlexW4241219431
Open LibraryOL29600208M
ISBN9780520947818
LanguageEN
Citations received50

Shadow Mothers shines new light on an aspect of contemporary motherhood often hidden from view: the need for paid childcare by women returning to the workforce, and the complex bonds mothers forge with the "shadow mothers" they hire. Cameron Lynne Macdonald illuminates both sides of an unequal and complicated relationship. Based on in-depth interviews with professional women and childcare providers— immigrant and American-born nannies as well as European au pairs— Shadow Mothers locates the roots of individual skirmishes between mothers and their childcare providers in broader cultural and social tensions. Macdonald argues that these conflicts arise from unrealistic ideals about mothering and inflexible career paths and work schedules, as well as from the devaluation of paid care work

Psychoanalysis · Shadow (psychology) · Psychology · Sex work and related issues · Child rearing · Motherhood · Single women · Social conditions · Women

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