Modern motherhood is hard.  While raising children is never going to be easy, I argue that we, as a society, make motherhood harder than it should be by holding mothers to unrealistic and unreasonable standards.  We vastly overestimate maternal duties, assuming that a mother has a defeasible duty to perform each action that might benefit her child. I argue that we should reject this maximal account of maternal duties.  However, many people worry that if we reject the maximal account of maternal duties, we will not be able to explain many duties which it seems obvious that mothers must have, for example the duty to protect their children from a non-dangerous wasp sting or the duty to use an age appropriate car seat.  This talk discusses possible formulations of a moderate account of maternal duties: an account which avoids the extreme demands (which undermine women’s wellbeing and make talking about parental decisions so tricky) but still recognises some plausible set of maternal duties.

Fiona Woollard is an Professor of Philosophy at the University of Southampton. Fiona’s main current research is in the Philosophy of Pregnancy, Birth and Early Motherhood. Fiona shows that pregnancy, birth and early motherhood can challenge traditional ways of thinking about morality and knowledge. Fiona also identifies ways in which philosophical mistakes in our thinking about motherhood can influence the treatment of pregnant women and mothers, often leading to harmful consequences for these vulnerable groups. Fiona is working with parental support organisations, parent groups, health professionals and MPs to combat guilt and shame surrounding infant feeding decisions. She is also exploring ways in which work in the philosophy of pregnancy, birth and early motherhood can be used to help improve the treatment of women suffering from Hyperemesis Gravidarum or extreme pregnancy sickness. She is the Co-Treasurer of the British Society of Ethical Theory and a member of the Analysis Trust Committee.

This seminar is hosted by the School of Philosophy, ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences