Identity, maternity and work

A study among social classes in Chile

Abstract

The increase in female participation in wage employment has confronted women to the conflict between family and work. In a context of transformation of the exercise of motherhood and the loss of strength of work as a source of collective identity, we ask ourselves about the construction of feminine identities by social group with respect to both dimensions. This article, through a qualitative study based on interviews and discussion groups of working women of different social groups in Chile, the study shows how the productive sphere is intertwined with the reproductive sphere, and how being a working mother, and its tensions, are indissoluble elements of their identities. At the same time, maternity and work mandates are solved in different ways according to social group.