The Political Consequences of Motherhood

From civically and politically engaged women linking their identity as mothers to their fight for prohibition, public sanitation, and protective labor laws to the general call to arms of mama grizzlies issued by Sarah Palin in 2010, American political activists and candidates have used motherhood to rally womens interest, support, and participation throughout American history. Politicized motherhood persists, and motherhood continues to inspire womens participation and direct their concerns. In The Political Consequences of Motherhood, Jill S. Greenlee investigates the complex relationship between motherhood and womens political attitudes. Combining a historical overview of the ways motherhood has been used for political purposes with recent political opinion surveys and individual-level analysis, she explains how and when motherhood shapes womens thoughts and preferences. Greenlee argues that two mechanisms account for the durability of motherhood politics. First, women experience attitudinal shifts when they become mothers. Second, mother is a broad-based identity, widely shared and ideologically unconstrained, that lends itself to appeals across the political spectrum to build support for candidates and policy issues.