Mothering and Social Changes: Structurally Transformative Practices of Care for Children in Modern Ukraine

Abstract

The paper demonstrates the research potential of sociological conceptualization of motherhood based on structural and agency approach. The author distinguishes two models of maternal practices that are structurally reproductive and structurally transformative ones on the base of integrative approaches to the analysis of gender relations (by R. Connell, B. Pfau-Effinger, A. Temkina and Ye. Zdravomyslova), and typology of social action by Sh. Hays. The first model is represented by practices that reproduce gender order within which women are responsible for childcare. On the example of contemporary Ukraine, the author focuses on the second model presented by practices that do not meet institutional frameworks of motherhood within the traditional gender division of labor. These practices are characterized by relatively early mothers’ return to paid work after childbirth, mothers’ focusing on professional career, and other actors’ responsibility for the daily care for a child.