Motherhood and Gender Role

A Study of Employed Myanmar Diasporic Mothers in The Greater Toronto Area

Abstract

This article focuses on motherhood and gender roles concerning first-generation migrant women from Myanmar (Burma) who have relocated to Canada. It explores to what extent the women of the Myanmar diaspora challenge or still maintain their gender norms and relations embedded in the sending country’s cultural context while simultaneously juggling the responsibilities among their multiple identities as mothers, wives, and employees through the lens of feminist mothering theory. The investigation is based on a review of maternal theorists and feminist migration scholars who explore the lived complexities of migrant mothers within the context of Southeast Asian migration to Western countries, as well as conducting a qualitative survey interview with eight employed Myanmar diasporic mothers in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) in 2020. Based on the findings, the paper argues that feminist mothering should be discussed as a combination of structural conditions (e.g., cultural beliefs, and material and economic demands) and subjective feelings about paid and unpaid work (e.g., domestic and child responsibilities).