Towards a feminist parental ethics

Abstract

Drawing on our experiences of parenting during the global COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, we explore the potential for a feminist parental ethics through which parenting can be rethought, reclaimed, and so brought forth as a vital and valuable assemblage of collective articulation work, shared “motherings,” and embodied interconnectivities of caring for and caring with the other. A feminist parental ethics is particularly important in the neoliberal academic context, where the responsibilities of caregiving that lockdown has thrust upon many workers in higher education have been largely downplayed, dismissed, or even ignored across the sector in the interest of maintaining “business as usual.” In response, we ask: “who is caring for the parents?” and we call for an extended idea of parenting beyond the familial as a means of differently organizing our societies, workplaces, and institutions around a shared locus of care.