“Do you have kids? Do you have kids? How many kids do you have?” the enforcement of hegemonic gender in Australian society

Abstract

This research explored women’s lived experiences of societal enforcement of motherhood through mechanisms of surveillance and judgement. Using a descriptive qualitative phenomenological design, 24 Australian women were interviewed about their lived experiences as women within society. Thematic analysis revealed five themes: women’s enforcement of hegemonic gender; the enforcement of motherhood in public and private spaces; labelling to control women; the gendered nature of social control; and the impacts of enforcement of motherhood. Overall, this study’s findings draw attention to how the surveillance, and subsequent judgement, of women within society plays an important role in maintaining the unrealistic expectations placed on women to become mothers and adhere to the ideology of good motherhood. Competition, surveillance and judgement are central to keeping women subordinate and distracting them from the ways in which structures of hegemonic gender function to oppress them within society. If freed from the constraints of hegemonic gender, mothering could be a site of equality where power is shared between parents rather than a site for continued oppression.