School of Social and Political Science

Description

Abstract:  The paper is based on a work in progress that explores the life course trajectories of unmarried Finnish mothers and draws from in-depth qualitative interviews of 30 women who have one or more children and who live with or without a partner.

The perspective is life historical, and the paper maps the women’s trajectories from childhood to the present family configuration with a focus on their union history and transition to motherhood. While Finnish society is influenced by the “couple-norm” (Roseneil et al. 2020), when it comes to the family conception inscribed in the legislation and social regulation, the analysed life trajectories highlight considerable variation. The interviewees are 26 to 43 years old, and they all live outside hetero marriage: 7 in a mixed-sex cohabiting couple, 5 in a same-sex cohabiting couple, 4 alone (with child/children) but in a mixed-sex LAT-relationship, and 14 alone (with child/children) and single.

Most participants are of Finnish origin with varied educational backgrounds, and their babies were either “naturally” conceived (15; intended or unintended) or born with the help of ART (15). In this talk, I will look at the women’s trajectories to their current family configurations and critically reflect the prevalence of the couple norm in Finnish society and the popular narrative of motherhood as a deliberate choice. The preliminary results highlight emerging reproductive pluralism in contemporary Finnish society connected with the diversification of family life more generally.

Speaker: Dr. Anna-Maija Castrén, University of Eastern Finland

Session Chair: Prof. Lynn Jamieson

Speaker biog:

Dr. Anna-Maija Castrén is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the Department of Social Sciences at the University of Eastern Finland, and her research interests broadly relate to family relationships and intimacies, kinship, family trajectories, and pathways to parenthood.