Matricentric feminism is not a dirty word: Fieldwork and equity

Gendered and intersectional inequities shape access, safety, and participation for mothers and pregnant women within field‐based research in archaeology and biological anthropology. Mothers routinely confront discrimination and structural barriers associated with pregnancy, breastfeeding, childcare, and gendered norms embedded in fieldwork culture. While adjacent disciplines have developed robust feminist literatures, the everyday experiences of mothers in biological anthropology remain underexamined. Drawing on over two decades of fieldwork as a single parent, I use personal narrative and experience as disciplinary critique within a matricentric feminist framework to reveal these dynamics to catalyze institutional change. I close with reflections and recommendations to reconfigure archaeological practice so that it meaningfully includes and empowers mothers and single parents.