Mothers, Mothering, and COVID-19

Overview

The central directive of the current COVID-19 pandemic has been conveyed in two words "Stay Home." Yet, to date, no research has examined how households are functioning and managing under social isolation. With little or no support, and under close to impossible conditions, many mothers engage in paid labour from the home while being concurrently responsible for their children's care and education as daycare and schools remain closed. With no respite from 24/7 days, single mothers, in particular, live in an insufferable isolated microenvironment with no one allowed into their homes and most outdoor activity for children cancelled. The collection considers how mothers are managing the new requirements of motherwork under the destabilizing restraints of this pandemic. In its explorations, the collection addresses why the essential and frontline work of mothering in this pandemic has been discounted, disregarded, and dismissed by governments, media, and the larger society. By way of creative art, poetry, photography and creative writing along with scholarly research, the collection seeks to make visible what has been invisibilized and render audible what has been silenced: the care and crisis of motherwork through and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Author Biography

Dr. Fiona Joy Green is a feminist mother and Professor of Women's and Gender Studies at the University of Winnipeg who believes in the power of revolutionary feminist motherwork. She's interested in the agency of children and mothers, in gender socialization and gender identity, and in the ability of matroreform and feminist motherlines to contribute to feminist theorizing and praxis. She's the sole author of Practicing Feminist Mothering (Arbeiter Ring Publishing, 2011) and co-editor of three books addressing feminist parenting and maternal pedagogies published by Demeter Press. Dr. Andrea O'Reilly is Professor in the School of Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies at York University, founder/editor-in-chief of the Journal of the Motherhood Initiative, and publisher of Demeter Press. She is co-editor/editor of twenty books including Feminist Parenting: Perspectives from Africa and Beyond and The Routledge Companion to Motherhood, and author of three monographs including Matricentric Feminism: Theory Activism and Practice. She is twice the recipient of York University's "Professor of the Year Award" for teaching excellence and is the 2019 recipient of the Status of Women and Equity Award of Distinction from OCUFA (Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations). She is mother of three adult children.