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This Thesis Has Been Approved by the Honors Tutorial College and the Department of Political Science This thesis has been approved by The Honors Tutorial College and the Department of Political Science __________________________ Dr. Kathleen Sullivan Professor, Political Science Thesis Adviser ___________________________ Dr. Andrew Ross Director of Studies, Political Science ___________________________ Dr. Donal Skinner Dean, Honors Tutorial College 1 MOMS GO POLITICAL: MATERNALISM IN THE NATIONAL WELFARE RIGHTS ORGANIZATION AND WOMEN STRIKE FOR PEACE ____________________________________ A Thesis Presented to The Honors Tutorial College Ohio University _______________________________________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for Graduation from the Honors Tutorial College with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in Political Science ______________________________________ by Shae A. Woodburn April, 2020 1 Introduction and Literature Review: The first time I came across the term maternalism, I was sitting in my Constitutional Law class. The class was learning about Progressive Era Supreme Court cases and how the Court refused to allow protective labor legislation to stand. Certain groups of Progressives began to frame arguments from a maternalist perspective in order to convince the Court to allow protective labor laws. They used maternalism, arguing that women deserved a special status because of their capacity for motherhood. This was the first time I had ever seen an argument or political strategy like this and it caught my attention. I began to seek out other examples of maternalism in politics. Of course, I knew about groups like Moms Against Drunk Driving or Moms Demand Action, but this intentional and strategic use of motherhood was new to me. This was not the casual mothers’ groups I knew about that occasionally dabbled in political issues but ultimately were social in nature. I had questions about its implications. I wanted to know if this was a feminist concept or one that set women back. I wanted to know if all people could politicize motherhood or if it was reserved only for a select group. I wanted to know if this was a successful political strategy. I wanted to know the implications of maternalism in politics. I wanted a bigger picture. The Progressives offered an example of non- mothers using maternalism but I sought other groups who used it like them: groups that were not exclusively mothers but deliberate with their maternalism as a strategic choice. These questions led me to my eventual thesis topic, that of two groups from the 1960s and 1970s that practiced maternalist politics. Maternalist politics have almost always been prevalent in US politics. Maternalism as a political strategy has been most famously used in Progressive Era 2 politics, but it did not end there. Women in the 1960s and 1970s used maternalist strategies in political organizations like Women Strike for Peace and the National Welfare Rights Organization. The implications of these strategies, illustrated by WSP and NWRO, include racial and gender consequences. Maternalism raises questions of who exactly can utilize the strategy successfully and what that success looks like. It demands a closer examination of how motherhood is racialized and the ramifications of that racialization. This raises questions of what maternalism looks like when utilized predominantly by poor Black women, such as the NWRO women, and when utilized by socioeconomically privileged white women, such as the WSP women. Each of these groups also provides an opportunity to analyze the dynamics between Black women’s groups and white women’s groups that claim to speak for all women and all children with maternalism. In analyzing the maternalism of each group, the different types of maternalism also are revealed as well as public reception to the assertion of motherhood by WSP and NWRO. Some of the limitations of motherhood as a political strategy are revealed in a close study of NWRO and WSP, as well as some of the potential benefits of maternalism that may allow for a more successful use of maternalist strategies in modern politics. The following literature review demonstrates the common theories and research in maternalist politics, as well as some of the gaps that my thesis seeks to address. In Favor of Maternalism Mothers’ movements and maternalism have long been present in American politics. Early examples of maternalism date back to Progressive Era legislation when activists insisted on protection for women in the workplace because of their status as mothers or potential mothers. Contemporary examples are prevalent with movements like 3 Mothers Against Drunk Driving or Moms Demand Action. Mothers and maternalism have been powerful political actors, and many theorists are in favor of maternalist lenses. Some argue that maternalism can be empowering for women by broadening their access to the political sphere. Others argue that maternalism can actually be a gender-neutral care ethic and so produce public goods. Still others insist that maternalism is expansive and can work with other activist frameworks to create more inclusive political environments. Danielle Poe argues in favor of maternalist lenses in politics in Maternal Activism: Mothers Confronting Injustice.1 Poe argues that there is a difference between maternalism and women activists who are mothers. Each of the women from her four case studies—Molly Rush, Michele Naar-Obed, Cindy Sheehan, and Diane Wilson—are activists that also identify as mothers. Poe claims that the work done by each of these women serves to empower women and expand the role of women from private, domestic spheres to public ones. Each of the activists frame their arguments around motherhood however, demonstrating that these women are in fact strategically conceptualizing their political goals around motherhood and engaging in maternalist politics. Poe insists that maternal activism does not have to lead to essentialist understandings of motherhood; instead, it empowers women through pushing the boundaries of gender roles and allowing them to engage in the political arena. Maternalism empowers through providing a radical way to express themselves as women and mothers beyond stereotypical 1 Danielle Poe, Maternal Activism Mothers Confronting Injustice, (Albany, New York: State University of New York Press, Albany, 2015). 4 understandings. Poe argues “...political action and mothering coincide, but their actions expand notions of mothering beyond narrow stereotypes, and their political actions extend their communities.”2 Poe believes that maternalism is revolutionary and expansive for women as a whole and that it allows more women to engage politically. What Poe fails to acknowledge is the privilege associated with politicizing motherhood and that often it serves to reinforce patriarchal roles. Poe’s case studies illustrate an ongoing flaw in maternalist frameworks because each woman is criticized by media for not being a ‘good’ mother throughout her activism. The rhetoric around what makes a ‘good’ mother demonstrates the lack of inclusion in maternalism. Women who mobilize their motherhood are permitted to do so only if they are perceived as ‘good’ mothers. A good mother looks like white, middle-to- upper-class women who don’t push the limits of gender roles too far. The women Poe describes engage in behavior that is not suitable to women as mothers, such as being arrested and incarcerated, which keeps them from their children. Rush, Wilson, Naar- Obed, and Sheehan also engage in more progressive political issues such as protesting the military or objecting to environmental degradation. These issues do not reinforce the status quo and raise questions of just how far women who mobilize their motherhood can push back against patriarchal expectations and still be seen as ‘good’ mothers. Cynthia Stavrianos similarly argues in favor of maternal frameworks in The Political Uses of Motherhood in America.3 Stavrianos puts forth two categories of analysis in maternalism. She describes one as understanding maternalism to be either 2 Poe, Maternal Activism, 107. 3 Cynthia Stavrianos, The Political Uses of Motherhood in America (New York: Routledge, 2015). 5 politically limiting in that it reinforces limiting gender roles or that it makes women “politically invisible.”4 Political invisibility is useful for mothers in activist roles when they are undertaking activism that could be potentially dangerous. Stavrianos uses the example of the Madres de Plaza de Mayo who protested against governments in Latin America after their children were disappeared. Political invisibility means that these mothers were viewed exclusively as apolitical entities and therefore their political power was limited. The other analysis of maternalism, and the one Stavrianos subscribes to, insists that maternal frameworks and equal rights frameworks can work together to expand political activism to people who may otherwise not engage. Like Poe, Stavrianos believes that maternal frameworks can be expansive to women seeking to participate in the political sphere. She believes that maternalism can thus be a useful and effective political strategy in contemporary politics and makes her argument with several case studies: Mothers Against Drunk Driving, Million Mom March, Mothers in Charge, Mothers Against Illegal Aliens, and Mainstreet Moms Organize or Bust. Stavrianos does acknowledge the limitations of maternalism for women of color and working-class women. She also acknowledges that liberal movements must be careful when deploying maternalist strategies because those strategies
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