Choosing Work and Family: Poor and Low-Income Mothers' Work-Family Commitments

Document Type

Article

Department or Administrative Unit

Sociology

Publication Date

5-2009

Abstract

This article sheds light on the work and family lives of those women with greater constraints on their work-life choices than the professional mothers driving the so called opt out revolution. I use qualitative interviews of a diverse group of poor and working class women on and off welfare to examine the issue of choice in work and family life. I find that low-income mothers share much of the concern expressed by social conservatives over mothers' increased time in the work place. They invoke a shared understanding of the responsibilities of motherhood setting themselves apart from more advantaged mothers who purportedly choose work over family responsibilities.

Comments

This article was originally published in Journal of Poverty. The full-text article from the publisher can be found here.

Due to copyright restrictions, this article is not available for free download from ScholarWorks @ CWU.

Journal

Journal of Poverty

Rights

Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

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