Dr Jenna Pandeli, Dr Chloe Tarrabain and Dr Mahwish Khan
In this blog, we draw upon our own research that explored the experiences of new mothers on maternity leave during the pandemic. We unravel the immense layers of unpaid work that mothers undertake and define this as ‘Invisible Work’. Our work aids understanding of the complex layers of emotion work, physical work, and mental load that women are expected to undertake during maternity leave.
What is Invisible Work?
The term ‘Invisible Work’ was developed by feminist academic Arlene Kaplan Daniels (1987) to describe women’s unpaid labour, such as housework and volunteer work. The concept has since been expanded and used to describe lots of different types of work (not just ‘women’s work’); work that is not valued economically, legally, culturally and work that is socially marginalized, physically out of sight or some combination thereof (Hatton, 2017). Invisible Work is unseen, unacknowledged and neither defined nor recognized or compensated as labour (Kaplan, 2022). Examples of Invisible Work have included prison labour (Pandeli et al, 2019), ‘dirty work’ (Duffy, 2007; Simpson et al., 2012), sex work (Kotiswaran, 2011), student internships (Hatton, 2017), emotion work and so on. Essentially, Invisible Work is being undertaken everywhere, but because this type of work is hidden in some shape or form, this obscures the fact that work is being performed and therefore this contributes to its economic devaluation.
So, what does ‘Invisible Work’ have to do with maternity leave and the pandemic?
For families, the pandemic meant a collapse of the boundaries between public and private space, where work, childcare and personal time all happened within the home. Research on parenting during the pandemic shows how the lack of separation between these spaces impacted mothers in a more pronounced way than fathers. Findings suggest that mothers experienced far greater anxieties and a greater sense of responsibility for their child’s safety (Ben Yaakov and Ben-Ari, 2021) often assuming accountability for making decisions and warding off the virus (Dutta et al., 2020; Kelly and Senior, 2021), and had an increased mental load (Dean et al. 2021; Kelly and Senior, 2021) than their male counterparts. Maternity leave makes this collapse of boundaries more extreme. Women having babies and taking maternity are removed from the economic labour market and confined to the domestic space. Without respite through social interaction, family and professional support, these women sat at the sharp end of the Covid pandemic. They were completing vast layers of unpaid work – emotional, physical and mental.
Dr Jenna Pandeli, Dr Chloe Tarrabain and Dr Mahwish Khan, all researchers at the University of the West of England gave birth (each to their first child) during the lockdowns of the global pandemic in 2020. Their experiences were understandably distressing, emotional and painful. On returning to work, they joked that they felt like they were ‘on holiday’ – being back at work felt like a holiday, which really made them realise that they had undertaken real, sweated labour while on maternity leave…exhausting, stressful and all-consuming labour…If their (professional, stressful, busy) paid jobs felt like relief/a break, what the hell had they been doing on maternity leave!? As a result, they undertook research, using their own experiences as well as interviewing 13 women who had given birth in 2020 to gain a deeper understanding of the type of work they were undertaking whilst on maternity leave in a pandemic.
What type of work were mothers undertaking on maternity leave in the pandemic?
Their research found that new mothers were undertaking significant layers of work during their maternity leave in the pandemic that included such things as:
- Managing the expectations of maternity leave versus the reality of their experiences
- Struggling to be heard and advocate for themselves in the absence of support
- Managing safety, fear, and risk to keep themselves and their babies safe during the pandemic
- Managing boredom, monotony, and loneliness due to isolation, restrictions, lockdown, and the confinement of motherhood more generally
- Managing the relentlessness of caring for a baby whilst never being able to ‘switch off’
- Managing and worrying about societal expectations of being the ‘ideal mother’
The Covid-19 pandemic dramatically altered the expectations and experiences of mothers during their maternity leave; adjusting to these changes and managing their expectations took its toll. Initially anticipating a period of bonding and shared joy, many women found themselves isolated, with limited social interactions and a sense of stolen moments. The absence of crucial social support networks left mothers mourning the maternity leave they had envisioned. The emotional and mental work needed to manage these expectations was often overlooked.
Many mothers felt that their experiences were devalued, leading to feelings of abandonment and disempowerment. Without adequate professional and social support, they had to navigate complex healthcare decisions and the challenges of early motherhood largely on their own, often feeling dismissed. They encountered the usual trope of being considered overly emotional, irrational, and hysterical. Their struggles were not treated as legitimate, and they were forced to ‘just get on with it’ at every stage. Fielding-Singh and Dmowska (2022) have shown us that women experience gaslighting during pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum; their realities are denied and thereby destabilized; mothers are rendered non-credible, and their experiences are not taken seriously. Even large organisations are now starting to acknowledge gender bias in healthcare and pain (See Nurofen’s recent ‘See My Pain’ Campaign here: See My Pain | Nurofen). Therefore, women were forced to undertake intense amounts of labour in order to advocate for themselves and their children during this time, and ensure their voices were heard.
Balancing the risks posed by the pandemic with their emotional wellbeing became a complex challenge for many mothers on maternity leave during this time. The lifting of restrictions introduced new fears and anxieties e.g. ‘Restrictions have eased but is it actually safe to go out?’ or ‘I had planned to meet a friend outside for coffee, but she has been in contact with someone who has covid – should I cancel plans?’ Constantly having to make these decisions with limited information, not only for themselves but also to protect their baby only added to their emotional burden and decision fatigue.
Additionally, loneliness and monotony became prominent features of maternity leave during covid as the absence of social support intensified feelings of isolation. Women had to form networks, reach out, socialise while physically and mentally exhausted in order to manage their mental health on maternity leave. Organising coffee meetups or play dates with the added pressure or masks, navigating lockdown rules and restrictions, lateral flow tests etc. was challenging and exhausting, albeit necessary for survival.
Mothers felt immense, relentless pressure to meet unrealistic expectations of being the ‘perfect’ mum, which was exacerbated by the lack of social support, resulting in feelings of exhaustion, guilt, shame, and a distorted sense of self-worth. Society tells us:
“You must feed your child healthy, home-cooked food, but you must still make time to play with them, you must not use screen time, but you must ensure your home is always clean. You must be a calm and gentle parent, but you must parent without support. You cannot use soothers, but your child must nap independently…. actually, don’t let your child nap independently enjoy this time together and have contact naps. You should breastfeed but not for too long. You should go back to work after your maternity leave, but if you do go back, you are neglecting your child. You must ensure you have some ‘me time’ but only after everyone else in your household is sorted and your chores are done. Motherhood is a blessing, and you must enjoy every minute so please don’t complain…. oh, and by the way, when are you going to have another child?’
These are the constant messages, often conflicting and confusing, that women are bombarded with on a daily basis. Mothers are expected to strike exactly the right balance in all areas of their child’s life and development and are considered failures if they can’t meet these impossible expectations, whilst isolated and doing it all alone. Inevitably, this pressure leads to burnout for many mothers.
These are just a handful of examples of the emotional, physical, and mental work taking place whilst on maternity leave and well into motherhood.
What does this tell us about maternity leave more generally? are these experiences only relevant to the pandemic?
Overall, the research argues that these experiences are not necessarily unique to the pandemic, instead what was discovered was the Invisible Work of maternity leave more generally. The pandemic allowed us to see more clearly the work that new mothers were forced to undertake whilst on maternity leave. Covid-19 exacerbated the difficult experiences of motherhood, isolating mothers, removing support, and pushing Invisible Work to an almost unbearable extreme. But we can learn from these experiences as we can now see more clearly the multiple layers of work being undertaken on maternity leave.
You can find out more about this research, read the full report and see the recommendations we make to organisations, policymakers and families going forward here. Please get in touch with Jenna Pandeli if you would like to know more.
References
Ben-Yaakov, O. and Ben-Ari, O.T (2022) Covid-19-Related anxieties and parenting stress among first-time mothers and fathers in their first year of parenthood. Psychology & Health, 37(11),1327-1341.
Dean, L., Churchill, B., & Ruppanner, L (2021) The mental load: building a deeper theoretical understanding of how cognitive and emotional labor overload women and mothers. Community, Work & Family, 25(1), 13-29.
Duffy M (2007) Doing the dirty work: gender, race, and reproductive labor in historical perspective. Gender & Society, 21(3): 313–36.
Dutta, M., Agarwal, D., & Sivakami, M. (2020 The “invisible” among the marginalised: Do gender and intersectionality matter in the Covid-19 response. Indian Journal of Medical Ethics, 5(4), 302-308.
Fielding-Singh, P. & Dmowska, A (2022) Obstetric gaslighting and the denial of mothers’ realities. Social Science & Medicine, 301: 1-8.
Hatton, Erin (2017). Mechanisms of invisibility: rethinking the concept of Invisible Work. Work, Employment and Society, 31(2): 336–351.
Kaplan Daniels, Arlene (1987). Invisible Work. Social Problems, 34(5): 403–415.
Kaplan, Amit (2022). ‘Just Let it Pass by and it Will Fall on Some Woman’: Invisible Work in the Labor Market. Gender & Society, 36(6): 838-868.
Kelly, S., & Senior, A (2021) Towards a feminist parental ethics. Gender, Work & Organization, 28(2): 807-825.
Kotiswaran P (2011) Dangerous Sex, Invisible Labor: Sex Work and the Law in India. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Pandeli, J., Marinetto, M. and Jenkins, J., 2019. Captive in cycles of invisibility? Prisoners’ work for the private sector. Work, Employment and Society, 33(4): 596-612.
Simpson R, Slutskaya N, Lewis P, Höpfl H (eds) (2012) Dirty Work: Concepts and Identities. London: Palgrave Macmillan.