Motherhood

Laurie Taylor talks to Helen Charman, Fellow and Assistant College Lecturer in English at Clare College, University of Cambridge, about her study of mothers fighting for alternative futures for themselves and their children. Is motherhood an inherently political state, one that poses challenges to various status quos? Also, Caitlin Killian - Professor of Sociology, Drew University, Madison, New Jersey argues that US mums are held to ever higher standards and now subject to an expanding list of offences - from falling down the stairs while pregnant to letting a child spend time alone in a park - which were not seen as criminal behaviours a generation ago. Are mothers likelier to be held accountable than fathers? Producer: Jayne Egerton

You can listen to Motherhood online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Motherhood is an episode from Thinking Allowed by BBC.

This episode is 29:11 long.

This episode was published on Mar 25, 2025.

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