Mothering load: Underlying realities of professionally engaged indian mothers during a global crisis

The current global crisis has had a significant impact on professionally engaged mothers and the proliferation of the invisible nature of the work that they are engaged in on a daily basis. Several research studies have indicated how mothers seem to have been particularly affected. Mothers experienced an exacerbation in their domestic household and child-care responsibilities due to the absence of househelp and other child care arrangements while balancing their professional careers. These challenges crystallized the existing gender inequalities and the gendered nature of parenting. Using a feminist lens, this study explores the experiences of mothering load during COVID-19 against the backdrop of urban India. A total of two themes and six sub-themes were identified through the process of thematic analysis-Triad of work included increased care work, increased formal work, and increased worry work and Mothering experiences: Burdens and Biases included the lack of support, parental role overload, and gendered nature of parenting. This study adds to the limited empirical evidence of working mothers in India while straddling the worlds of feminism and mental health activism. Findings indicate the need to explicitly highlight the invisibilized phenomena of unpaid care work, worry work, and the gendered nature of parenting that contribute to the larger experience of mothering load. The findings also point toward acknowledging the importance of maternal mental health and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5 to establish and enforce stronger policies around recognizing and appreciating unpaid care and domestic work to promote gender equality and empowering women at all levels. This may be enacted through the encouragement of shared responsibilities within the household and family units as contextually feasible and through the development of appropriate infrastructure, social protection policies, and the delivery of public services. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Mindful parenting-A thematic exploration of narratives from Indian mothers.

Introduction: With the global crisis of COVID-19 continuing, Indian mothers have not received adequate attention with respect to their challenges and mothering experiences. The current study explored mindful parenting practices in a cohort of Indian mothers of children aged 10 years and below that emerged in response to the challenges posed by COVID-19. Methods: In-depth virtual interviews were conducted with 31 urban Indian mothers to explore their lived experiences of mothering during the global crisis and their engagements with mindful parenting practices. The data were thematically analyzed. Results and Discussion: The study identified two overarching themes and nine subthemes. The first theme, pandemic-induced stress, included the sub-themes of increased workload, poor support system, lack of time for self, and emotional and physical distress. The second theme of mindful parenting included the sub-themes of awareness as a mother and around the child, acceptance toward self and the child, empathic understanding of self and the child, active engagement with the child, and emotional regulation. Increased workload on all fronts coupled with poor support and a lack of time for self-contributed to exacerbated emotional and physical stress in mothers. They addressed these concerns posed by their lived experiences by engaging in mindful parenting processes in their mothering practices. Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, mindfulness-based stress reduction, and mindfulness-based parenting techniques could be explored as possible interventions for mothers to alleviate their distress while drawing attention to larger structural changes and policy-level interventions addressing social issues such as gender inequality and childcare concerns.

Vignettes of mothering through the pandemic: A gendered perspective of challenges and making meaning of motherhood in India

The current exploratory study endeavoured to understand the lived experiences of Indian mothers with children below the age of 10 during the COVID-19 pandemic through a feminist lens. Vignettes of two mothers from different occupational backgrounds and family units were chosen. Through in-depth interviews, and using a thematic analysis framework, themes of increased household and childcare responsibilities, evolving socio-cultural gender roles, self-compassion, self-care and meaning making emerged from the narratives. Findings indicate heightened inequalities and efforts from spouses to reduce this gap. Mothers responded by choosing a more compassionate approach towards themselves and in their mothering practices and thus making meaning of their experiences through the pandemic. Results indicate a need to establish and enforce stronger policies around recognizing and appreciating unpaid care and domestic work in keeping with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5.