Transformations Week 11

2006 Tressa Middleton Youngest Mum in UK Gave birth aged 12 Child now adopted

Spanish woman who gave birth through IVF at 66 dies Carmen Bousada lied to clinic to obtain treatment Case shows need for age limit for IVF, say experts Maria del Carmen Bousada de Lara Became world’s oldest woman to give birth in 2006 – twin boys Had IVF in California using donor sperm and egg Maria died in 2009 when her sons were 3 years old.

Why is teenage motherhood seen as a problem?

Why is older motherhood seen as a problem?

How are do these concerns differ in relation to young fathers? Older fathers?

Statistical Bulletin: Live births in England and Wales by characteristics of mother 47% of all babies born in 2009 had mothers aged 30+, while 64% had fathers of 30+ The average age of all mothers for all 2009 births was 29.4 The average age of mothers at first birth was % of births in 2009 were to parents living together, whether married or unmarried; a further 10% were registered to two parents living at separate addresses

The “problem” of teenage mothers A moral threat (panic?) “A disadvantaged trajectory” (McDermott and Graham, 2005) Misrepresentations Statistics Motivations (e.g. getting housing) Capabilities Relationship status (elision of teenage and single) Health risks

The “right time” to have a baby BBC Radio 4, Woman’s Hour (23 June, 2009) Karen Throsby and Melanie Davis (obstetrician, gynaecologist and spokesperson for the RCOG) 5_tue.shtml

Women’s experiences: young motherhood Teenage mothers as competent, knowing and proud Youth as an advantage Breaking a constraining idea of “family” (doing it better) (see: Higginson 1998; Kirkman et al 2001) “resilient mothering” (McDermott and Graham, 2005) But – constantly confronted with negative stereotypes which have to be managed / resisted (see: Kirkman et al 2001)

Women’s experiences: older motherhood Discrepancy between ideal (ideological) and lived experience (see also: Choi et al 2005) Fear of things going wrong (Carolan 2005): Extensive reading Health warnings Loss of status / control / identity Narratives of youthfulness A “double-edged sword” (Shelton and Johnson 2006)

Conclusions The decision to become a mother (or try to become a mother) is dependent on a range of social and interpersonal factors, as well as biological capacities. Both younger and older mothers find themselves subject to negative stereotypes as a result of their perceived deviation from reproductive norms. The women both negotiate those norms in ways which simultaneously reinforce them and disrupt them. The lived experiences of older and younger motherhood deviate substantially from the ideologically drive representations of those experiences.