“It's hard to become mothers”: The moral economy of postponing motherhood in neoliberal Chile

Abstract

The delay of childbearing is one of the most prominent transformations of contemporary fertility and reproductive patterns. This article provides a novel approach to understanding why women are postponing motherhood and having children later in life. Drawing on 24 life story interviews with women from Santiago de Chile, I argue that the transition to motherhood is shaped by a moral economy in which women postpone childbearing to enable becoming “good” mothers. In a context in which social fertility is being redefined by neoliberalism, intensive mothering, and lone motherhood, I find that women delay childbearing until after achieving professional and financial milestones that allow them to fulfil the normative conditions for having children. These findings suggest that women postpone the transition to motherhood not because they reject childbearing and traditional gender roles, but rather because they aspire to become “good” mothers in a context characterized by institutional precariousness, relational insecurity, and increasing demands on mothering. Through these findings, I challenge prevalent interpretations of why women are having children later in life, extend accounts of the gendered norms of social fertility, and contest the nature of autonomy driving change in women's lives.