The feckless mother: Women, poverty and social workers in wartime and post-war England

Abstract

This article considers the stigmatisation of poor mothers during and after the Second World War and highlights the promotion of the image of the feckless mother, together with explanations for her plight, which hinged on personal rather than environmental factors. Eugenic ideas informing the construct of the 'problem mother' determined the ways in which the phenomenon was understood and treatment designed, and contributed to the failure to develop a critique of the poverty and deprivation which afflicted families. As material conditions improved after the War, so the incidence of the 'problem family' declined, although changing fashions in childcare continued to hold mothers responsible for ills affecting their families.