The
power and problems of maternalist reform
Historians consider
the maternalist reform movement instrumental to the development
of the modern U.S. welfare state. But by conceptualizing the source
of women’s political power as an extension their domestic
roles, and by advocating public policies favoring the family’s
sole dependency on the wages of a male head of household, maternalist
reformers also succeeded in institutionalizing a class-bound ideology of mothering that set the standard for future social programs based
on a gender-biased standard of the “family wage.”
Infant mortality— which,
according to estimates, was as high as 30 percent in poor urban communities
in 1900— declined rapidly after 1930. How much the work of
the Children’s Bureau and maternalist reformers contributed
to this reduction has been questioned by scholars who observe that
overall improvements in urban sanitation systems and public health
regulations were probably far more effective in preserving the lives
of babies than the Bureau’s national campaign to mass educate
mothers in the basic of infant care and feeding.
Although “maternalism”
has been portrayed as a branch of early feminism, there remains
some debate about whether the objectives of maternalist reformers
were entirely compatible with the women’s rights agenda. Certainly,
the maternalist reform movement opened a new path for women’s
political empowerment, and many (but not all) leaders and organizations
associated with the maternalist cause were also outspoken supporters
of women’s suffrage. But because maternalism valorized women’s
selfless care-giving and called for social recognition of women’s
rights based on the power of maternal influence to shape
the character of future generations, it may be problematic to view
classic maternal activism as a true form of feminism.
Nevertheless, the maternal
reform movement during the Progressive Era deserves a place in our
historical awareness of women’s activism— both for the
capacity of the maternalist ethic to engage a population that at the time was
formally disenfranchised from the mainstream political process,
and for the unprecedented number of social reforms secured with
the support of women’s voluntary organizations.
Social and cultural conditions
at the end of the 19th century presented certain women with a unique
opportunity to seize the moment as their own. Although the political
presence of women’s voluntary groups faded significantly after
the first quarter of the 20th century, many woman reformers who
were attuned to the maternalist ethic continued to work for social
progress, including Eleanor
Roosevelt and Frances
Perkins (FDR’s secretary of labor, the first woman to
hold a position on a presidential cabinet, and one of the principal
authors of the Fair Labor Standards and Social Security acts).
If there is a larger
lesson to take away from the success of maternal activism during
the Progressive Era, it may be that contemporary mothers’
activists should be wary of the temptation to rework the valorization
of motherhood into a platform for social action. But we should never
be ashamed to emulate the extraordinary resourcefulness of our foremothers
who banded together over one hundred years ago to advance their
own maternal cause, or dismiss the power of their determination
to shape a better world.
mmo : march 2004 |
