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The political is personal: Postfeminism and the construction of the ideal working mother

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  • Helen Delaney
  • Katie R. Sullivan

Abstract

This paper critically analyses how postfeminist discourse plays out in media constructions of politician New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern becoming a mother while in office. Data for this project include Ardern's public announcements of her pregnancy, her daughter's birth, and responses to questions regarding being a working mother. Alongside Ardern's framing of becoming a working mother, we also analyze how mainstream media reported on and sought meaning around her story. We are guided by the questions: How do different feminisms materialize in Ardern's case and how do they help us make sense of working and mothering in postfeminist times? Our analysis contributes to gender and organizational literature by teasing out the tensions and possibilities that emerge for a feminist politics of mothering and working.

Suggested Citation

  • Helen Delaney & Katie R. Sullivan, 2021. "The political is personal: Postfeminism and the construction of the ideal working mother," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(4), pages 1697-1710, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:gender:v:28:y:2021:i:4:p:1697-1710
    DOI: 10.1111/gwao.12702
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Ilyana Kuziemko & Jessica Pan & Jenny Shen & Ebonya Washington, 2018. "The Mommy Effect: Do Women Anticipate the Employment Effects of Motherhood?," NBER Working Papers 24740, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Yvonne Benschop & Patricia Lewis & Ruth Simpson & Maria Adamson, 2017. "Postfeminism, Neoliberalism and A ‘Successfully’ Balanced Femininity in Celebrity CEO Autobiographies," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(3), pages 314-327, May.
    3. Yvonne Benschop & Patricia Lewis & Ruth Simpson & Rosalind Gill & Elisabeth K. Kelan & Christina M. Scharff, 2017. "A Postfeminist Sensibility at Work," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(3), pages 226-244, May.
    4. Yvonne Benschop & Patricia Lewis & Ruth Simpson & Patricia Lewis & Yvonne Benschop & Ruth Simpson, 2017. "Postfeminism, Gender and Organization," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(3), pages 213-225, May.
    5. Alison Edgley, 2021. "Maternal presenteeism: Theorizing the importance for working mothers of “being there” for their children beyond infancy," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(3), pages 1023-1039, May.
    6. Shani Orgad & Sara De Benedictis, 2015. "The 'stay-at-home' mother, postfeminism and neoliberalism: content analysis of UK news coverage," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 62626, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    7. Rosalind Gill & Shani Orgad, 2018. "The Amazing Bounce-Backable Woman: Resilience and the Psychological Turn in Neoliberalism," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 23(2), pages 477-495, June.
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    Cited by:

    1. George Kandathil & Rajeshwari Chennangodu, 2024. "Postfeminist individuating of a women collective and the strugglesome emergence of a relational collective feminist solidarity: The story of Kudumbashree, a Kerala state‐instituted women empowerment p," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(1), pages 115-132, January.

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