Shadow Mothers: Nannies, Au Pairs, and the Micropolitics of Mothering
Cameron Lynne Macdonald
Abstract
This book shines new light on an aspect of contemporary motherhood often hidden from view: the need for paid childcare by women returning to the workforce, and the complex bonds mothers forge with the “shadow mothers” they hire. This book illuminates both sides of an unequal and complicated relationship. Based on in-depth interviews with professional women and childcare providers—immigrant and American-born nannies as well as European au pairs—this book locates the roots of individual skirmishes between mothers and their childcare providers in broader cultural and social tensions. The book arg ... More
Keywords: motherhood, mothering, childcare, mothers, nannies, au pairs, childcare providers, career paths, professional women
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2011 | Print ISBN-13: 9780520222328 |
| Published to California Scholarship Online: March 2012 | DOI:10.1525/california/9780520222328.001.0001 |
