27
A further aspect of the identity of the working mother that surfaces within this
sequence is that of the 'individual'. As Karen’s remark (line 191) suggest, space to be
'oneself' appears to be at a premium for working mothers. There is evidence in this
conversation that the needs of the individual are overwhelmed by the social constraints of
domestic and professional roles. Fulfilling the demands of domestic roles, particularly
those of mothering, appear to take precedence over self-needs.
You must have had the same Saturday: Relational conflict.
The conflict of managing family roles in relation to individual needs becomes
even more problematic when the women introduce partner needs into their conversation..
Extract 10
104
Karen: isn't that what you were saying is that you have those big issues
105
and you need to talk about them and you never have time PST
106
Dee:
yeah
GSM
107
Karen: and then by the time you do you have these sort of like two two minute
108
conversations about what you gonna do with the rest of your lives =
[
109
Dee:
( softly) yeah GSM
110
Karen: an how you're going get out of this ((sort of )) conversation before you
111
have to ferry somebody off somewhere an somebody comes in an =
[
Convention