Stay-at-home mothers: dialogues and debates

Introduction Elizabeth Reid Boyd and Gayle Letherby

Section I: The mommy wars: communiques across the barricades

So, what do you do? an exploration of the experience of highly educated stat-at-home mothers Stacey E. Rubin

Maternal ambivalence: breastfeeding mothers' attempts to resolve the conflicting desire to be close to children and to fulfill western conceptualizations of self worth and equality Keren Epstein-Gilboa

Navigating the narrow pass of motherhood Lisa Carley Hotaling

Are "mommy wars" real? Brianne Janacek Reeber and Paula J. Caplan

Section II: On the home front: national perspectives

Staying at home: low-income mothers in rural America Ann Allgood Berry, Yoshie Sano, Mary Jo Katras and Jaerim Lee

Stay at home Jewish mothers: A Jewish-Israeli perspective Darya Maoz

Young mothers in the UK: push and pull factors relating to choices to stay at home or not Geraldine Brown, Geraldline Brady and Gayle Letherby

Mothering from a Caribbean perspective: challenges, determination, and survival Janet M. Haynes

Mediating the mommy wars in contemporary Germany Valerie Hefferman

Integrating choices: 'being there for my children' and 'being a citizen worker': Irish survey on stay-at-home mothers Noelia Molina

The mommy curve: stay-at-home mothers in Australia Elizabeth Reid Boyd and Ann-Claire Larsen

Section III: New angels and old demons: manifestations of mothers at home

Cyber-mothers: mothers at home, online Pamela Weatherill

Are stay-at-home mothers really at home? U.S. mothers' volunteer work in schools Beth Anne Shelton and Rebecca Deen

Eco-momma: the green angel in the house Pamela Morgan Redela

Smart women, different choices: college-educated women with children negotiating work and family Dianna Shandy and Karine Moe

"But she was a nanny" ... with accompanying eye roll-considering mother work with a live-in caregiver Rebecca Jaremko Bromwich

'Quiet desperation': the 'retreat' and recuperation of the housewife and stay-at-home mother on popular television Anna Marie Bautista

Making it work Catherine Fournier

The day after, and the day after that: reflections on keeping your options open Kathryn Clarke

Section IV: When the war is over: re-imagining stay-at-home mothering

How alternative mothering is transforming American stay-at-home motherhood Hallie Palladino

It's time to move beyond the "mommy wars" Solveig Brown

Seeing themselves: stay-at-home mothers reject stigma Hester Vair

Motherhood as an act of personal and social co-creation Tara Ulbrich

The free gift: how U.S. stay-at-home mothers sustain themselves in a culture of nonreciprocity Ana Villalobos

Conclusion: caring choices Elizabeth Reid Boyd and Gayle Letherby.