Under the Desk: On Becoming a Mother in the Workplace

Abstract

The field of organization studies has embraced the metaphor of organizations as ‘cultures’, but there has been no consideration of why these particular ‘cultures’ appear childless. Premised in social constructionism, specifically its contribution to relational theorizing, this paper explores themes on mothering and the workplace. It is written in two parts as an autoethnography, adopting elements from creative writing to represent a series of discussions, interactions and impressions, with the aim of illustrating the complexities of coping and feeling resolved. Inquiry is predominantly into embodied mothering and paid work, with specific considerations of material, cultural and institutional repressive dynamics. The first, and main, part focuses on conflicts shaping mothers’ work lives, particularly the repression of meaningful relationships to represent a strong ‘individual’. The second part, a postscript, opens up space for future organizational research; it argues for possibilities of changes that allow for the traversal of spatial and disciplinary binaries—changes in both the focus of inquiry and domain interests. Together, these constitute a project of writing children into organizational studies.

Key words:

• Autoethnography
• Culture
• Mothering
• Work Life