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that Richard is a well-balanced child (line 90). Although Dee accepts Jan’s remark as
being an appropriate assessment of Richard’s character (line 92) she notes an issue that is
likely to be salient to most working mothers ‘but its the guilt thing you always feel guilty
don't you?’ (line 92). Her use of the group inclusive ‘you’ acknowledges that this as a
shared problem for all of the women.
This particular exchange highlights the dialectical tension working women face
daily when trying to balance the role of working professional with the social expectations
of good mothering. As this interaction suggests women continually equate their own
children’s behaviors with a lack of attention due to having a working mother. The
women in these interactions, like most working mothers, work to pay mortgages, buy
food and support their children’s college careers. However stereotypical social norms
relating to a mother’s role in a child’s upbringing inevitably result in a causal link that is
read as working mother = failed child. Certainly as this data shows, the feelings of guilt
that result from the social pressure on women in relation to responsibility of child rearing
can lead to anxiety and depression in the mother
‘Not having any space’: the individual within.
It is not just the issue of guilt that impacts on women’s lives, but also the issue of
their own emotional needs as an individual. The interaction below shows that, in order to
avoid the guilt that comes with being a working mother, women are often forced to
subsume their own individual needs.
Extract 6.8
Convention