ABSTRACT This article synthesizes research on stay‐at‐home motherhood to examine its evolving definitions and the dynamic forms of agency exercised by stay‐at‐home mothers. Drawing on preference theory, we review existing scholarship to conceptualize stay‐at‐home motherhood as a socially constructed and culturally variable phenomenon that cannot be reduced to related categories of women and that extends beyond the private sphere into the public domain. We further argue that stay‐at‐home mothers are internally heterogeneous. Their experiences of leaving the workforce vary across contexts and are shaped by interactions with structural and cultural forces, including the stalled revolution, the ideology of intensive mothering, and prevailing norms surrounding maternal employment. At the same time, these experiences are further differentiated by intersections with social class, race, and migration. Based on this review, we advocate for a more comprehensive conceptualization of stay‐at‐home motherhood, a comparative approach to examining its diverse meanings and challenges across societies, and greater attention to policies and social support for stay‐at‐home mothers.
Chen et al. (Fri,) studied this question.