Throughout history, specifically the 1980-90s in comparison to our present day gender roles, there has been a progression away from confining mothers to their mothering expectations of the past years. This progression came due to many forms of resistance such as, acceptance of working mothers, post war feminism, as well as the gender roles that mothers face. While society may have grown away from the traditional idea that mothers cannot work and raise a child properly, it has also created a set of new expectations that go against what has occurred in the past. When comparing these two time periods, it is apparent that there is a common theme of bad mothering, as well as mother blame, has adapted throughout time to try and evolve the roles
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Working mothers were seen as selfish and undedicated to their children. This was a notion that was reinforced with the theme of mother blame. Mother blame occurred always and whenever there was a negative point to be made about the mother and how she was raising her child. This was a primary theme that rose during the 1980-1990 period of time. Since this era was post war, this meant that the mothers had even harder expectations and spotlight on them since their husbands were serving their country. They were expected to step up to the plate and work for their family, along with raising their children and taking care of the home. When the fathers and male figures returned after the war, they immediately got their place in the workforce back. This shoved mothers back into the mold of the housewife that they were told to fit for the longest time before the war. This created tension with the mothers who felt as if they were being treated unfairly due to the men returning home. They felt as if they could handle the duties of being a mother and working, after all, a majority of them had had success with it during the war. For instance, one mother was criticized saying, “No woman who earns a living could possibly be sufficiently self-sacrificing to be a good mother.” (Ladd Taylor, 1998, page 21) This shows that the social resistance to mothers working and taking on the motherly role was strong and oppressive towards women, even those who have succeeded at it
Working mothers were seen as selfish and undedicated to their children. This was a notion that was reinforced with the theme of mother blame. Mother blame occurred always and whenever there was a negative point to be made about the mother and how she was raising her child. This was a primary theme that rose during the 1980-1990 period of time. Since this era was post war, this meant that the mothers had even harder expectations and spotlight on them since their husbands were serving their country. They were expected to step up to the plate and work for their family, along with raising their children and taking care of the home. When the fathers and male figures returned after the war, they immediately got their place in the workforce back. This shoved mothers back into the mold of the housewife that they were told to fit for the longest time before the war. This created tension with the mothers who felt as if they were being treated unfairly due to the men returning home. They felt as if they could handle the duties of being a mother and working, after all, a majority of them had had success with it during the war. For instance, one mother was criticized saying, “No woman who earns a living could possibly be sufficiently self-sacrificing to be a good mother.” (Ladd Taylor, 1998, page 21) This shows that the social resistance to mothers working and taking on the motherly role was strong and oppressive towards women, even those who have succeeded at it