Changing socioeconomic conditions are enticing more and more Nigerian mothers to work and pursue careers. This article explores how middle-class professional women navigate working mother subjectivities in the context of Nigeria’s strong patriarchal culture, where traditional notions of maternal femininity prevail. We argue that the working mother’s subjectivity is a key site where the struggle over gendered cultural meanings takes place. Drawing on 32 qualitative interviews, we demonstrate how a small group of women refused traditional feminine subject positions; however, most mothers either embraced or reluctantly acquiesced to traditional femininity, despite having access to broader cultural repertoires and material resources. By unveiling the complexities of the cultural appeal of traditional femininity and social penalties for breaching it, the article extends our understanding of how patriarchal cultures resist gendered change and the nuances and limits of individual patterns of resistance.

中文翻译：

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在传统主义的控制下？尼日利亚中产阶级职业母亲如何驾驭女性气质的规范理想


不断变化的社会经济条件正在吸引越来越多的尼日利亚母亲工作和追求事业。本文探讨了中产阶级职业女性如何在尼日利亚强大的父权文化背景下驾驭职业母亲的主体性，在尼日利亚，传统的母性女性气质观念盛行。我们认为，职业母亲的主体性是发生性别文化意义斗争的关键场所。借鉴 32 次定性访谈，我们展示了一小群女性如何拒绝传统的女性主体立场;然而，大多数母亲要么接受，要么不情愿地默许传统的女性气质，尽管她们可以接触到更广泛的文化曲目和物质资源。通过揭示传统女性气质的文化吸引力的复杂性以及违反女性气质的社会惩罚，本文扩展了我们对父权文化如何抵制性别变化以及个人抵抗模式的细微差别和局限性的理解。