Single Mothers and their Children
Single Mothers and their Children
$109.00
USDThis is a powerful and moving history of single motherhood in Australia. It tells the story of these women and their children and the lives they constructed. The book covers the period from the 1850s, when abandonment and infanticide were not uncommon, to 1975, when the legal status of illegitimacy was abolished. While tracing profound changes over this period, the authors find much continuity. The book covers issues of baby farming, infanticide, abortion, sex education, birth control, adoption and marriage, in effect becoming a history of sexual practice in Australia.
- First comprehensive history of single motherhood in Australia
- Blends individual stories with broader isssues of policy and society
- Makes contribution to international literature in illegitimacy
Reviews & endorsements
"...Swain and Renate's findings are far-reaching and immediate." Patricia A. Washington, Jrnl of San Diego History
"...thorough account of single motherhood in Australia during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.... ...Swain brings a sophisticated understanding of `lived experience' to her interpretations of the oral histories. She deftly situates interview data within a wealth of original quantitative data specific to Victoria and generates it for the purposes of this study...." Nancy D. Campbell, Journal of Women's History
"This book combines good history with impassioned political advocacy." Pacific Affairs
"...a useful, and, at times, powerful and moving contribution to our knowledge of the history of sexuality, motherhood and family life." Elizabeth Yeoman, Journal of the Association for Research on Mothering
Product details
October 1996Hardback
9780521474436
288 pages
229 × 152 × 17 mm
0.56kg
11 b/w illus.
Available
Table of Contents
- 1. Introduction: To have an unlicensed child
- 2. The mothers: a perfectly nice girl - an ordinary girl, perhaps your own daughter
- 3. Breaking the news: what are you going to do about it?
- 4. Pregnancy and confinement: medicos, midwives and morals
- 5. Death: very army of murderesses within our midst
- 6. Separation: now put this thing that has happened to you away, forget about it, get on with the rest of your life
- 7. Surviving: you must maintain your own
- 8. Illegitimacy: to punish the innocent child
- 9. Empowerment and resistance: speaking out publicly.
