Mothering practices across three generations of Chinese women: from liberated woman, virtuous wife and good mother, to intensive full-time mother

Abstract

Chinese women have lived through huge societal changes. This article aims to explore women’s lived experiences as mothers over three generations under such transformations, specifically how women’s childrearing practices are distinctively constructed and how each generation of women makes their own mark on such constructions. The study of what women do in their everyday lives creates methodological challenges. In the study on which this article draws, a biographical narrative interview method was applied and adapted to take into account the researcher’s impact on the co-construction process of the interviews and to understand some ‘untellable’ stories. Three detailed cases are analysed to demonstrate individual woman’s struggles and achievements when acting on the particular ideological contexts of the periods in which they were mothers.