Re-ordering Motherhood and Employment : Mobilizing ‘Mums Everywhere’ during Covid-19

Ashman, Rachel and Radcliffe, Laura and Patterson, Anthony and Gatrell, Caroline (2022) Re-ordering Motherhood and Employment : Mobilizing ‘Mums Everywhere’ during Covid-19. British Journal of Management, 33 (3). pp. 1125-1143. ISSN 1045-3172

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Abstract

This paper explores the impact of the ‘mobilization’ of employed mothers by the UK government to home-school and care for children while performing paid work at home, in order to limit Covid-19 transmission. Drawing upon actor network theory (ANT), we extend John Law's (1994) concept ‘modes of ordering’ (or strategic shifts in response to change when power relations are unequal) to illuminate how employed mothers’ networks were re-ordered. In this netnography, we observe how they re-ordered personal and local networks to combine home-working, home-schooling and childcare. We learn how, when mothers’ usual networks broke down, they employed three novel modes of re-ordering: retentive, retrogressive and reformative. These modes capture the complex relationships between work and family – an area of concern that has previously received limited attention in relation to actor networks. Our findings reveal the gendered nature of the mandatory imposition of home-working during the pandemic. Through developing Law's modes of ordering, we demonstrate the potential of ANT to understand the impact on mothers of home-working and highlight important practical contributions for organizations and governments.

Item Type:

Journal Article

Journal or Publication Title:

British Journal of Management

Additional Information:

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Ashman, R., Radcliffe, L., Patterson, A. and Gatrell, C. (2022), Re-ordering Motherhood and Employment: Mobilizing ‘Mums Everywhere’ during Covid-19. Brit J Manage, 33: 1125-1143. doi: 10.1111/1467-8551.12630 which has been published in final form at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/action/showCitFormats?doi=10.1111%2F1467-8551.12630 This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance With Wiley Terms and Conditions for self-archiving.

Uncontrolled Keywords:

/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1400/1400

Subjects:

?? general business,management and accountingstrategy and managementmanagement of technology and innovationbusiness, management and accounting(all) ??

Departments:

Lancaster University Management School > Marketing

ID Code:

170335

Deposited By:

ep_importer_pure

Deposited On:

13 May 2022 13:30

Refereed?:

Yes

Published?:

Published

Last Modified:

29 Oct 2024 16:50

URI:

https://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/id/eprint/170335