Feminist Analysis Of A Single Working Mother

Single Working Mothers: A Feminist Analysis of the “Fit” and “Unfit” Mother and the Patriarchal Gender Bias of the Domestic Environment

This feminist study will define the social conditions of the single working mother as “fit” or “unfit” for this role will be defined by traditional patriarchal gender biases in the domestic environment. Patriarchal traditions, such as marriage, define the role of mothers within the domestic sphere through the psychological subjugation of women as mothers under certain gender-based criterion. The role of the mother in the patriarchal family unit was often judged by the standards that men applied to caring for children, working in the domestic environment, and being submissive to their authority in the household. In many cases, women were psychologically and physically abused under these conditions, which judged them as “fit” or “unfit” to meet these expectations of domestic servitude within the patriarchal home. The institution of patriarchal authority in the home defines the abuse or rewards they would receive within the parameters of male rules and guidelines to be followed within this environment. These aspects of patriarchal misogyny

This submissive role for mothers often made them economically and financially vulnerable when the male was no longer present in the family unit via divorce, death, etc: “The language of the nuclear family continues to sway our speech, crowd out equally valid models of living” (Hochman 320). These are important aspects of mothering, which define the gender bias of patriarchal marital institutions and the resulting burden that often makes it very difficult for women to be “fit” mother’s when having limited employment and/or financial options to raise their children and support the family