Pregnancy and Childbirth as Wage Labor
Overdetermined by ideals of racial purity, patriarchal lineage, and maternal devotion, pregnancy and childbirth are never just natural phenomena but are intensely culturally mediated, gendered events that accentuate the social processes of gift-giving and exchange central to making families and communities. The reproductive household tasks mothers perform are understood as being imbued with devoted care, selfless love, and maternal sacrifice. Because of...