Transitions to motherhood: young women’s desire for respectability, responsibility and moral worth

Calver, K. (2020) Transitions to motherhood: young women’s desire for respectability, responsibility and moral worth. Journal of Youth Studies. 23(8), pp. 1071-1085. 1367-6261.

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Calver_Kay_T_F_2019_Transitions_to_motherhood_young_women_s_desire_for_respectability_responsibility_and_moral_worth.pdf - Accepted Version

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Abstract:

In the UK, teenage motherhood is depicted in the media and government policy as highly negative and problematic. Pregnant and mothering young women are constructed as socially excluded members of society who belong to an assumed underclass who lack responsibility and respectability. This article draws on the views and perspectives of pregnant and mothering young women in the east of England to examine how positive and successful subjects are defined and understood. It is illustrated how this group of working-class young women negotiated and resisted their positioning as ‘unfit’ mothers and ‘bad’ citizens. Central to their narratives was a desire to reassert themselves as respectable and responsible individuals through engaging in education and employment in order to achieve financial independence. It is argued that this notion of respectability provides a limited and limiting understanding of inclusion and moral worth for working-class young women.

Uncontrolled Keywords:

Transition, motherhood, Mothers: education, education, narratives, identity, Parenthood, exclusion, employment, qualitative, Interpretative phenomenological analysis, General Social Sciences, Life-span and Life-course Studies, Sociology and Political Science

Creators:

Calver, K.

Faculties, Divisions and Institutes:

Faculties > Faculty of Education & Humanities > Education, Children and Young People

Date:

13 September 2020

Date Type:

Publication

Page Range:

pp. 1071-1085

Journal or Publication Title:

Journal of Youth Studies

Volume:

Number:

Number of Pages:

Language:

English

DOI:

10.1080/13676261.2019.1655140

ISSN:

1367-6261

Status:

Published / Disseminated

Refereed:

Yes

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