Welcome to this year’s issue 5 of the Journal of Gender Studies! This issue begins with a selection of articles that investigate pregnancy, childbearing, midwifery, representations of surrogacy and mothers grieving their dead infants, mother–son relationships and the experiences of mothers during the pandemic. Our first article by Rebecca Feasey shows how the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle, became the centre of debates about ‘geriatric’ motherhood at a time when maternal age is on the rise in the UK and older celebrity mothers are a focus of discussion. Feasey examines how magazines Grazia and Elle presented Markle’s first pregnancy (in 2018 when she was 37), depicting her as a youthful maternal figure, and considers how magazines in general tend to dismiss the risks of older motherhood.
John Pendleton discusses the marginalization of men in the area of childbearing, both as midwives and as service users, and explores how this is related to the limits of existing language such as the term ‘midwife’. Tracing the history and usage of the term, Pendleton argues that ‘midwife’ has multiple meanings, but that it is often used in ways which exclude people who do not identify as female. Pendleton argues that it would not be helpful to replace the word or to degender it, but that we do need to continually re-examine our use of words and to move beyond reactionary binary divisions to develop a more inclusive understanding of the role of gender in midwifery.
Natalia Bueso-Izquierdo, Julia C. Daugherty, Antonio E. Puentec and Rafael A. Caparros-Gonzalez investigate the relationship of perinatal intimate partner violence – that is, violence exerted by an intimate partner in the year before conception, throughout pregnancy and up to a year after birth, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on questionnaires with pregnant women, the authors show that perinatal intimate partner violence is associated with women’s heightened perceived stress and greater severity of psychopathology, and that mothers who have more than one baby are more likely to experience it than first-time mothers. They argue that more research is needed in order to understand how mothers can be supported, especially during crises such as the pandemic when women have faced a rise in intimate partner violence and increased difficulties in seeking help.
Soumya Kashyap and Priyanka Tripathi consider the practice of commercial surrogacy, with reference to Amulya Malladi’s novel A House for Happy Mothers (2016), an account of the surrogacy industry in India, that reflects on the social gap between consumers from the Global North and impoverished surrogates in the Global South. The authors argue that this industry promotes a form of neoliberal eugenics where surrogacy is presented as a simple ‘choice’, and the conditions and contexts that structure choice are ignored.
Troy Potter’s focus is also fiction, in this case the Australian children’s novels, The Shape (2000) by Dianne Bates and The Naming of Tishkin Silk (2003) by Glenda Millard, depicting sudden unexplained death in infancy. As Potter shows, the novels present mothers as spectral figures; absent, depressed, hospitalized. In contrast, fathers are shown as stoic, continuing to support their surviving children and their wives. The mothers must be cured of grief before they can resume their role and their grief is only curable by the institutional power of the hospital and the family.
Orit Bershtlinga and Roni Strierb discuss mother–son relationships, drawing on interviews with Israeli men who say they have close relationships with their mothers. The authors suggest that shifts in models of masculinity and contradictory ideas of what being a man means today have allowed these men to see the mother–son bond as a resource for performing a wider range of masculinities. In particular, the men use this relationship to establish themselves as liberal, progresssive and enlightened, emotionally literate, modern and upwardly mobile. Used alongside more classical models of masculine traits, this represents a new configuration of gender practices that may actually work to strengthen their privilege.
Finally, Ketoki Mazumdar, Isha Sen and Sneha Parekh investigate the experiences of a group of Indian mothers of young children during the COVID-19 pandemic. They show that the pandemic created opportunities for the realignment of gender roles; some participants reported support from family members and spouses and acknowledged the value of increased family time, more meaningful interactions, and closer bonds. Yet the demands on women to multitask escalated; women experienced increased child-care and household responsibilities, along with new responsibilities for homeschooling their children; all this intensified by lack of access to external support. Their experiences reveal a clear need for better policies around gender equality and the recognition of women’s unpaid care and domestic work.
Issue 5 also features two articles on contemporary feminist activism. Nahia Idoiaga Mondragon, Naiara Berasategi Sancho, Nekane Beloki Arizti and Maitane Belasko Txertudi examine the strikes for gender equality in Spain in 2018 and 2019, in which women refused to buy anything and to do paid or unpaid work. Millions of women participated in the strikes and there were huge demonstrations in Spanish cities. The authors focus on the social meaning attached to the strikes, tracking discussions on Twitter. In the first strike, an initial phase of awareness emphasized the different groups joining the strike and the areas it targeted. Following this there was a phase of divergence in which key aspects of the strike were discussed, in particular, the role of men. Finally, there was a phase of convergence where the resounding success of the strike was agreed. In the second strike feminists followed the same pattern of action but were met with anti-strike trolling, drawing on men’s rights activist and ultra right discourses. This resistance made it difficult to reach a phase of convergence emphasizing the success of the strike. All the same, the success of the Spanish feminist strikes is indisputable, suggesting that the use of digital technologies can be used to promote more participatory political spaces, and that digital activism will play a pivotal role in the continuing claims for gender equality in Spain.
Maria-Adriana Deiana, Jamie J Hagen and Danielle Roberts consider the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on feminist activist strategies, drawing on focus groups with activists in Northern Ireland. They show how the pandemic exacerbated the marginalization of feminist issues in institutional politics and the challenges facing gender minorities. In response, feminist and LGBTQ activists continued to organize collectively, building on existing relationships to create networks and coalitions, develop mutual aid practices, and make policy recommendations and proposals for recovery. They faced burn out caused by increased demands for action and the isolation created by lockdown. But they also viewed the pandemic as an opportunity to make demands for radical change – for care to be put at the centre of society and for women to be valued. The research provides a useful case study for understanding feminist strategies for organizing and the potential for social transformation.