This paper is based on qualitative interviews with younger and older mothers and examines how they construct and present themselves as good mothers in relation to dominant discourses of good motherhood. Here I will focus on presenting my analysis of how mothers’ moral maternal selves are articulated across interconnected sites of difference such as class, gender, age at first birth and employment. My investigation of the moral work undertaken by mothers looks at their comparisons with other mothers, their experiences of ‘shared’ parenting and of combining mothering with paid work.

1. Maternal Moralities: Differentiations of Class, Gender and Paid Work Maud Perrier Centre for the Study of Women and Gender University of Warwick