Mothering and Domestic Violence: Situating Maternal Protectiveness in Gender

This article aimed to explore the complications and complexities of mothering in the contexts of domestic violence. Through interviews with nine women who had mothered in domestic violence, it was found that women do attempt to protect children from physical and emotional harm; however, the climate of fear, power, and control present in domestic violence limits protection, and women try pleasing their partners to prevent violence. This article argues the hostility of this environment needs to be acknowledged in constructions of protection and gender needs to be central in understandings of mothering in domestic violence.