Dr Maria Tsouroufli (University of Wolverhampton)

Abstract:

Feminist scholarship has raised consciousness about the material conditions associated with motherhood and the male-dominated ideology in shaping the social construction of motherhood. Theories of late modernity on the other hand have emphasized liberation from structures and institutions in post-industrial and post-traditional societies, which allow for reflexively creative maternal subjects with endless possibilities and choices. However, the enduring significance of gender and how it intersects with class in the organisation of parenting, domestic, and professional work has been obscured in contemporary post-feminist and neo-liberal contexts. This paper examines how academic women conceptualize, enact and reconfigure motherhood within the patriarchal Greek society, and the classed and gendered strategies they adopt to reconcile ‘good’ motherhood with notions of the ‘good’ doctor/academic professional.
This seminar is co-hosted by the Centre for Education Studies and the Centre for the Study of Women and Gender.

Biography:

Dr Maria Tsouroufli is a Greek-born British scientist with interdisciplinary academic and research experience in education, health and medicine. Her research is at the interface of education, sociology, feminist and organisational studies. Her work in the Sociology of Education has been concerned with the relationship between policy, practice and inequalities, exploring how gender inequalities are connected to professional subjectivities, everyday practices, pedagogy, organisational processes and policy. She joined the Institute of Education, Faculty of Education Health and Well-being at the University of Wolverhampton as a Reader in Education in November 2015.