Mothers of (malleable) steel? : how Singaporean women approach mothering

• Main Author: Tan, Sherilyn Hui Yun
• Other Authors: School of Humanities and Social Sciences
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: DRNTU::Social sciences::Sociology
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/55826
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

This research presents an interpretative account of Singaporean women’s attitudes and approaches towards mothering. It seeks to examine how mothering is influenced by various factors such as state ideologies. This research includes viewpoints and recounts of experiences of both the mother and her child, with undergraduates and their mothers specified as the target sample group. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were carried out with twelve undergraduates and nine mothers. The findings indicate that women’s childrearing attitudes and practices are not homogeneous. In general, the mothers in this study usually act as an intermediary between the state and their child as they generally subscribe to various state ideologies. However, the extent to which they consciously or unconsciously negotiate these ideologies differs.