Modern Motherhood Women and Family in England, c. 1945-2000

This book examines women’s experiences of motherhood in England in the years between 1945 and 2000. Based on a new body of 160 oral history interviews, the book offers the first comprehensive historical study of the experience of motherhood in the second half of the twentieth century.

Based on a new body of 160 oral history interviews, this fascinating volume offers the first comprehensive historical study of the experience of motherhood in the second half of the twentieth century. In her thematic study of an area where a number of discourses and practices meet, Davis sheds new light on aspects of mothers’ lives such as education, health care, psychology, labour market trends and state intervention.

Looking through the prism of motherhood to provide a way of understanding the complex social changes that have taken place in the post-war world, Davis considers how women’s experiences of motherhood reflect and reveal changes within women’s lives, gender relations, culture and society, family and community patterns, health and welfare, and the relationship between the family and the state. Drawing on the themes of continuity and change the book examines the legacies of these developments and asks what they indicate about both the past and future of motherhood in England.

This book will be essential reading for students and researchers in the field of twentieth-century British social history, sociology, psychology, and gender studies as well as anyone interested in the history of family and community in Britain.

Winner of the Women’s History Network Book Prize, 2013

This book examines women’s experiences of motherhood in England in the years between 1945 and 2000. Based on a new body of 160 oral history interviews, the book offers the first comprehensive historical study of the experience of motherhood in the second half of the twentieth century.

Motherhood is an area where a number of discourses and practices meet. The book forms a thematic study looking at aspects of mothers’ lives such as education, health care, psychology, labour market trends and state intervention. Looking through the prism of motherhood provides a way of understanding the complex social changes that have taken place in the post-war world. This book will be essential reading for students and researchers in the field of twentieth-century British social history. However it will also be of interest to scholars in related fields and a general readership with an interest in British social history.

'A fascinating survey of women's experience of motherhood', 'eminently readable', 'a solid and thoughtful study', 'an outstanding piece of oral history', and 'ambitiously wide ranging'.
The judging panel for the Women’s History Network Book Prize, 2013.