While the Child Sleeps: the Repertoire of "Non-maternal" Practices of Russian Mothers

Abstract

The article is part of a research project dedicated to modern maternal practices in the focus of women’s professional and personal self-realization. As a methodological basis for studying these previously unidentified aspects of the life of women on parental leave, the authors propose the concept of “non-maternal” practices of mothers, understanding it as stable types of a woman’s activities which she implements in a wide range of areas of public life, which are determined by the complex situation of caring for young children and the corresponding changes in her chronotope, communicative positions and economic situation, but are not directly related to caring for her child. Based on the materials of a comprehensive study (a study of young mothers’ accounts in social networks, N=720; 22 motherhood forums; an online survey, N=471; a series of in-depth interviews N=20), the empirical potential of the proposed concept was demonstrated. The repertoire of “non-maternal” practices has also been defined and systematized, and their typology is presented. In particular, the following grounds for the classification of “non-maternity” practices are identified: implementation format (offline, online, mixed), motivation (self-realization, earnings, combating the monotony of maternity days, communication, relieving psychological stress), effect (constructive, destructive, without a pronounced effect ), economic status (neutral, subsidized, investment, spontaneous earnings, regular income, commercial income), professional dynamics (practices corresponding to the main profession or pre-maternity employment; temporary practices that developed during maternity leave; transitive practices leading to a change in professional trajectory), field of activity (education, support for mothers, creativity and the arts, volunteering and social activism, beauty industry, crafts, crop production, sports, real estate, tourism, self-development, computer technology). The proposed optics allow a comprehensive approach to the study of mother’s mechanisms of adaptation, and an analysis of the multi-layered and eclectic nature of normative and factual aspects in the restructuring of their social statuses. The practical meaning of their application lies in the possibility of turning the system of social support for motherhood from subsidized (support for motherhood = social payments) to resource (support for motherhood = reformatting the social environment, taking into account women’s right to subjectivity).