Commercial surrogacy in the age of intensive mothering

2021 ◽  
pp. 001139212096490
Author(s):  
Heather Jacobson
Keyword(s):  
Lived Experience ◽  
The Body ◽  
Intensive Mothering ◽  
Moral Framework ◽  
Personal Time ◽  
Commercial Surrogacy ◽  
Family Balance ◽  
The Us ◽  
Work Family ◽  
Time Away

This study examines the navigation of intensive mothering ideology – the dominant cultural mothering schema in the US which places pressure on mothers to exclusively devote time and energy to their children, casting any other activity as problematic – within the lived experience of a unique cohort of mothers: women paid to gestate and birth babies for others. Based on in-depth interviews with US commercial surrogates, this study adds new depth to the body of research on intensive mothering by extending the arena of examination beyond work/family balance negotiations, where much of the literature is located. US surrogates understand surrogacy, which is rigorous labor, frequently takes time away from their families, and requires support from family members, not as a form of employment but as a ‘selfish pursuit,’ one they primarily engage in out of their own interests and desires. This study finds that the positive moral framework of surrogate labor as ‘altruistic self-sacrifice’ common within the US surrogacy industry and community, the fact that surrogacy is a relatively short-term ‘gig,’ and the healthy monetary compensation surrogates receive that serves as a tangible ‘thank you gift’ to families, help to buffer surrogates from full intensive mothering accountability. The experiences of US surrogates navigating mothering pressures while participating in surrogacy offer a window into how other contemporary US mothers might resist intensive mothering norms while engaging in non-familial and non-employment activities in their lives, activities such as hobbies or personal time away from family.

Introduction

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine Rottenberg
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
The United States ◽  
Popular Imagination ◽  
Liberal Feminism ◽  
The Past ◽  
Family Balance ◽  
The Us ◽  
Work Family

Providing the cultural context for the rise of neoliberal feminism in the United States, the introductory chapter of The Rise of Neoliberal Feminism begins by laying out the book’s key conceptual terms, such as human capital, work-family balance, affect, and happiness. It then maps out the way in which feminism has been represented in the US popular imagination over the past hundred years, differentiating among classic liberal feminism, postfeminism, and neoliberal feminism, while underscoring the book’s theoretical contributions. Finally, it provides an overview of the book’s overall trajectory, offering a chapter-by-chapter outline, highlighting each chapter’s major arguments, contributions, and assumptions.

Work–Family Practice in Multinational Organizations

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Massman ◽  
Jane Brodie Gregory ◽  
A. Silke McCance ◽  
Andrew Biga
Keyword(s):  
Business Case ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Work Life ◽  
Life Effectiveness ◽  
Family Structures ◽  
Multinational Organizations ◽  
Personal Time ◽  
Narrow Scope ◽  
Family Balance ◽  
Work Family

With all of the changes in the workforce, there is increasing strain on the delicate balance between work time and personal time. Work–family issues have also been impacted by trends such as an increase in expectations for work hours, rising numbers of women in managerial and executive positions, changes in family structures, and decisions about balancing career and life. Both researchers and organizations recognized the narrow scope of work–family balance, and have expanded the focus to include the employee’s life outside of work. This chapter begins with a brief overview of what work–life effectiveness means in the current business environment, and provides a business case for why work–life effectiveness matters. It also provides two case studies detailing the types of efforts that leading organizations are making today to meet their employees’ expectations for work–life effectiveness. It concludes with a perspective on work–life evaluation and future thoughts.

Work-Family Balance From Women Technopreneurs' Perspectives

2019 ◽  
pp. 195-208
Author(s):  
Artee Aggrawal
Keyword(s):  
Lived Experience ◽  
Thematic Analysis ◽  
Role Model ◽  
Work And Family ◽  
Snowball Sampling ◽  
Family Balance ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Work Family ◽  
Role Responsibilities ◽  
Depth Interviews

The purpose of this chapter was to explore the lived experience of women technopreneurs in India and to identify challenges and opportunities that they face in the process of balancing work and family life. Establishing technological enterprise as women in the Indian context where they face caste, cultural, and organizational constraints is still a challenge for many. The study is exploratory in nature. In-depth interviews were conducted with 10 women technopreneurs selected through snowball sampling method. A thematic analysis of the interview data generated five themes including gender identity, multiple role responsibilities, work challenges, striking a balance, being a role model. Based on the findings, the authors provide implications for research and practice.

Re-imagining Reproduction: Unsettling Metaphors in the History of Imperial Science and Commercial Surrogacy in India

Somatechnics ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 88-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kalindi Vora
Keyword(s):  
Assisted Reproductive Technologies ◽  
Reproductive Technologies ◽  
The Body ◽  
Body Parts ◽  
Colonial History ◽  
Women's Bodies ◽  
Commercial Surrogacy ◽  
Art Practices ◽  
History Of ◽  
Travel Industry

This paper provides an analysis of how cultural notions of the body and kinship conveyed through Western medical technologies and practices in Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) bring together India's colonial history and its economic development through outsourcing, globalisation and instrumentalised notions of the reproductive body in transnational commercial surrogacy. Essential to this industry is the concept of the disembodied uterus that has arisen in scientific and medical practice, which allows for the logic of the ‘gestational carrier’ as a functional role in ART practices, and therefore in transnational medical fertility travel to India. Highlighting the instrumentalisation of the uterus as an alienable component of a body and subject – and therefore of women's bodies in surrogacy – helps elucidate some of the material and political stakes that accompany the growth of the fertility travel industry in India, where histories of privilege and difference converge. I conclude that the metaphors we use to structure our understanding of bodies and body parts impact how we imagine appropriate roles for people and their bodies in ways that are still deeply entangled with imperial histories of science, and these histories shape the contemporary disparities found in access to medical and legal protections among participants in transnational surrogacy arrangements.

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