Motherlands

“Ruppanner offers a major breakthrough in our understanding of the institutional roots of gender and family inequality. Beginning with the key insight that the United States is not a singular welfare state but rather has a patchwork of diverse state-based policies, this ingenious study offers a profusion of eye-opening discoveries about the ways policy regimes put women’s empowerment at odds with the caretaking of children. Motherlands exposes the urgent need for a holistic set of policies that ensure both economically-based gender justice and generous caregiving supports for families.”
—Kathleen Gerson, Professor of Sociology and Collegiate Professor of Arts and Science at New York University, and author of The Unfinished Revolution: Coming of Age in a New Era of Gender, Work, and Family

“In this meticulously researched book, Leah Ruppanner compellingly makes the case that we don’t need to look to other countries such as Sweden to design policies that promote women’s economic self-sufficiency and gender equality. Taking advantage of the natural experiment that is the United States, Ruppanner shows us that the inspiration and answers lie in our own backyard. Exploiting and exploring the considerable diversity across states with regard to economic and demographic context, prevailing attitudes, and public policy around women, work, and family, she identifies the conditions that do—and don’t—foster women’s economic independence and gender justice, forces that often occur in surprising combinations and in surprising places. Lively and provocative, Motherlands challenges readers and policy makers to take a fresh look at what is happening close to home to come up with a roadmap to policy solutions that can be implemented at the national level.”
—Pamela Stone, Professor of Sociology at Hunter College and the Graduate Center, CUNY, and coauthor of Opting Back In: What Really Happens When Mothers Go Back to Work

"Ruppanner thoroughly examines how various U.S. states promote or dissuade postpartum married women’s return to work.... She grounds the discussion in a thorough literature review on welfare states and how U.S. states compare with the models. Ruppanner also examines the significance of other variables such as religiosity and race, performing useful statistical analyses. Helpfully, the book is filled with black-and-white maps of U.S. states, as well as tables and models of the discussion points. The author ends with measures states could enact to better support working families, more flexible and affordable childcare being chief among them. This book will be especially useful for those researching public policy or women’s and gender studies. Summing Up: Recommended."
—CHOICE

"Motherlands is an important book that draws attention to variability in lived experiences—of mothers and women—across the USA.... (Ruppanner) raises...important questions, providing some valuable answers.... Motherlands powerfully demonstrates that the USA has a long way to go to support women as mothers, as workers, and both."
—Social Forces

" Overall, the book makes a valuable contribution to the work‐family policy and welfare state literature, and it is very well suited for teaching.... (T)he book is a thought‐provoking starting point for the next phase of studying work‐family policies. Ruppanner’s book serves as an important example of why it insufficient to examine individual policies, such as access to parental leave, as they do not provide enough insight into the real‐life impacts of policy context on employment patterns."
—Political Science Quarterly

"(A) breakthrough in how we think about the influence of nation-states on maternal employment.... Motherlands is a timely investigation of how crucial contextual factors are in shaping maternal employment. Ruppanner’s careful analysis makes a strong contribution to the literature, underscoring the importance of state-level variation in gendered contexts.... The book is to be applauded for its theoretical advancement of welfare-state theory, its analytical rigor, and the consistent empirical picture it paints. Scholars wishing to understand how macro-level forces shape gendered issues, like maternal employment, will find the book both useful and illuminating."
—Motherlands