Becoming A Mother Symposium At York University in Honour of Mother's Day
Feminist Scholars to Share Research on Myriad Motherhood Issues -- Birthing Choices, Post-Partum Depression, Non-Custodial Mothering, Single, Working Mothers

TORONTO, May 3, 2000 -- To give people more to think about than the messages inside Hallmark Mother's Day cards, York University Women's Studies Prof. Andrea O'Reilly has organized a one-day symposium entitled Becoming a Mother, which will be held at York University Sat., May 6, one week before this year's celebration of Mother's Day.

"Though central to most women's lives, motherhood has only recently become a subject of inquiry in many areas of research, and even then motherhood is seldom analyzed from the perspective of the mother," says O'Reilly, who is also Director of York's Association for Research on Mothering. "In most research on motherhood, we know more about what it is like to be mothered -- looking at children, their socialization -- than what it is like to become and be a mother. With this symposium, we shift the focus to the mother herself and examine her thoughts, feelings, dreams as she becomes a mother."

Feminist scholars from North America and Britain will delve into such important topics as: pregnancy and addiction; birthing choices (midwives, home birth, doulas); the different ways women arrive at being mothers (adoption, stepmothering, lesbian co-parenting, in vitro fertilization); post-partum depression; single mothering; and working new mothers. Among the papers:

"Negotiating the Meaning of Motherhood: Women in Addiction and Recovery", Carol Brownstein-Evans (SUNY College at Brockport, NY)

"Bearing Children, Bearing Burdens", Law PhD candidate Lorna Turnbull (York University)

"Performing Pregnancy: Choreographic Fruits of the Womb", Gill Wright Miller (Denison University, Ohio)

"Childbirth: Whose Body Is It Anyway? A Woman's Narrative of Giving Birth", Tracy Kennedy (Brock University)

"Choice vs. Option: Exploring the Druthers of Pregnant Women", Master's women's studies student Heather Mains (York University)

"Articulating (my) Post-partum Depression", Justyna Szachowicz-Sempruch (University of British Columbia)

"'Unbecoming Behaviour': Becoming a Non-Custodial Mother", Diana Gustafson (University of Toronto)

In her paper, "Negotiating the Meaning of Motherhood: Women in Addiction and Recovery", SUNY social work Prof. Carol Brownstein-Evans writes that the idealization of motherhood not only creates compelling and unrealistic standards for most women, but also labels certain women as bad, neglectful, and non-mothers. Brownstein-Evans, whose clinical social work practice and research have been in maternal substance abuse, adds that rather than questioning the institution of motherhood, women have been socialized to question the deviance of individual mothers. Women who are single, poor, welfare-dependent, or substance-abusing are judged against idealized standards of goodness and responsibility. This presentation describes her preliminary data from a qualitative study about mothering by women during their addiction, treatment, and recovery.

In another paper, "Choice vs. Option: Exploring the Druthers of Pregnant Women", York University Master's student Heather Mains will present an investigation about women's choices in childbirth. She will clarify the distinctions between informed consent, informed choice, and informed decision-making. Mains will also draw from her own experience as a doula -- a woman who provides continuous physical, emotional, and informational support to a mother before, during and just after childbirth.

The symposium will be followed by a gala evening of poetry, art and folklore featuring a reading by acclaimed Canadian poet Di Brandt, 8 p.m. - 11 p.m., in Room S836, Ross Building. The next volume of The Journal of the Association for Research on Mothering -- "Mothers and Sons" -- will also be launched at the gala event.

The Association for Research on Mothering's mandate is to promote feminist maternal scholarship by building and sustaining a community of researchers -- academic and grassroots -- interested in mothering and motherhood. The association is committed, in both membership and research, to the inclusion of all mothers, First Nations, immigrant and refugee mothers, working-class mothers, lesbian mothers, mothers with disabilities, mothers of colour, and mothers from other marginalized communities.

The symposium will be held from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the Harry Crowe Room, 109 Atkinson College, York University, 4700 Keele Street.

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For the full symposium agenda or more information, visit: http://www.yorku.ca/crm, or contact:

Prof. Andrea O'Reilly
York Association for Research on Mothering
York University
(416) 736-2100, ext. 60366
e-mail: arm@yorku.ca

Ken Turriff
Media Relations Officer
York University
(416) 736-2100, ext. 22086
e-mail: kturriff@yorku.ca
YU/050/00