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ABSTRACT
Most studies on the processes and effects of neoliberalization concentrate on the public sphere. Some feminist scholars argue that young middle class women are increasingly becoming the bearers of neoliberalism – encouraged to achieve success in multiple areas of life. There is, however, a lack of empirical research on how women engage with neoliberal ideals in post-socialist settings. This article draws on 25 interviews with single mothers in Estonia to discuss how neoliberal ideology manifests itself in the private sphere. Our findings suggest that single mothers have an ambivalent relationship with neoliberalism as they are both challenging as well as reproducing this ideology in their everyday practices of gender and motherhood.
Interviews
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1. The lyrics have been translated from Estonian by the authors.
2. Name of a village in Estonia.
3. The song also includes verses where the mother has to move to a remote rural location in order to make ends meet.
4. Notably, in recent years, single father-led households are on the rise (European Parliament Citation2020).
Additional information
Funding
Notes on contributors
Maarja Saar
Maarja Saar is currently working at the University of Jönköping as a senior lecturer. Her main areas of focus include EU migration, formal and informal social protection, ageing migrants and gender in Eastern European context.
Kadri Aavik
Kadri Aavik is an Associate Professor of Gender Studies at Tallinn University, Estonia, and a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Helsinki, Finland. She works in gender studies (with a focus in critical studies on men and masculinities), critical animal studies and vegan studies—and their intersections.