Some of you would have heard of Emily Wolfinger, a fabulous academic and single mother, who writes powerfully about single mothers. Emily has contributed a chapter to the newly released book ‘Gone Feral: Unruly Women and the Undoing of Normative Femininity’, where she puts forward the argument that it’s time to shift the discourse on single mothers – and we are so here for that.
This week, Emily Wolfinger spoke with CSMC about how single motherhood has historically been defined, and what needs to change.
“My chapter, ‘From Harlots to Irresponsible Economic Citizens: Shifting Discourses on Sole Mother’, explores historical and contemporary discourses on sole mothers across media, politics, and academia,” she says. “It argues that in Australia (as in other Anglophone nations), sole mothers have been constructed as feral or bad mothers within three primary discourses over time: unmarried mothers, ‘kids having kids,’ and welfare mothers.
“It locates the discourse of unmarried motherhood within moral-Christian theology, whereby ‘good’ and ‘bad’ motherhood was historically defined according to marital status. During this discursive period, ‘feral’ mothers produced offspring outside the confines of marriage, which ensured women’s sexual domestication or taming, and were labelled ‘harlots.’
“However, this construction of sole mothers began to shift in the late 1950s, with the problematization of unmarried teenage mothers taking precedence within institutional discourses.
“In the second section, my chapter reflects on how discursive emphasis shifted further away from sexual immorality to poor timing, as norms governing sexuality and the family changed from the 1970s, resulting in greater visibility of ex-nuptial teenage pregnancy. ‘Kids having kids’ became a household catchphrase as moral panic about teenage pregnancy ensued.
“As outlined in the third section, this problematisation of sole mothers peaked in the late twentieth century with the construction of the welfare mother, whereby, increasingly, the economic ‘irresponsibility’ of sole mothers—regardless of age or marital status—was emphasised in institutional discourse and maternal ferality became associated with welfare use.”
Importantly, Emily poses the question, ‘Is the deficit discourse on sole mothers shifting?’, and the author cites recent research and policy changes in Australia that do in fact point to further discursive shifts, namely greater emphasis on the lived experiences of sole mothers and the structural inequities that hinder their lives.
However, she warns that positive changes can sometimes be stepped back.
“Since writing this chapter, I wonder whether recent global developments threaten to undermine the progress sole mothers have made in challenging institutional narratives that position them as deficit mothers,” she says. “At the same time, opportunities arise for greater recognition of sole mothers’ care work and caregiving more broadly as intersecting crises point to the urgent need for systems that centre care.”
Gone Feral: Unruly Women and the Undoing of Normative Femininity is published by Demeter and you can order it here. Please note that international postage is expensive, however you can use the code MOTHERS for a 30% discount.
