| Abstrakt: |
This article looks at how emigration affected the motherhood of women moving from Estonia to Finland and from Finland to Estonia, and explores what kind of factors they had to rake into account in their new home countries. The examination is anchored to the ideologies of intensive and extended motherhood. Within the area of the former Soviet Union, a model of extended motherhood predominates which entails providing care not only to one's biological parents but other family members as well. The prevailing model in Finland is more closely reminiscent of the US-originating ideology of intensive motherhood, which gives primacy to the mother's responsibility for child care and which expects a full commitment to motherhood at least as long as the children are small. Although prevailing views of motherhood in Finland and Estonia are different, the Finnish and Estonian mothers interviewed for this research did not seem to differ in terms of their main concerns and aims. Both groups expressed the view that the most important task for motherhood was to attend to the child's needs and to make sure they were safe. They did, however, differ in the way they achieved this. Deep-seated cultural ideologies continued to influence motherhood and its practices even after the women had lived in their new home country for several years. Regardless of the reasons for moving, emigration influenced motherhood in both groups of mothers and also disrupted perceptions of gender roles prevailing in the country of origin. For Estonian mothers the biggest change was that they had to abandon their social networks, particularly the frequent help they had received from their own mothers with child care. In Finland, Estonian mothers found that they had to assume responsibility for everyday routines, particularly if they had moved into the country with their Estonian spouse, whereas those women who had married in Finland or who were repatriates could benefit from the help of relatives in their new home country. The wide array of social benefits available compensated somewhat for the loss of social networks, helping to relieve immigrant mothers from some of the concerns they had experienced in their everyday life in Estonia. In their new home country they also had to form their own view of motherhood, which integrated both Estonian and Finnish practices. However, it is noteworthy that even though immigrant mothers had to walk a tightrope between different views on raising children, the everyday routines in their new home country were largely similar to those in their country of origin. The situation was very different for Finnish women who had moved to Estonia. Those women who had emigrated with their husband or for work reasons lived in an expatriate enclave, in complete isolation from Estonian society. Thus, emigration released them from the expectations of the environment. They were offered an opportunity to pause and search in a new way for their own kind of motherhood. On the other hand, they were forced to search in a new way for their own kind of motherhood. Everyday social relations consisted mainly of contacts with other Finnish people who supported one another both mentally and practically with child care, if necessary on a daily basis. By contrast those Finnish women who had moved out to study or to work in Estonia had established social and institutional contacts with Estonian society. Most of them had an Estonian spouse whose friends and relatives not only provided important social contacts, but also offered help with child care and aspects of everyday life. The women in this group were also aware of the differences between Finland and Estonia and - as the Estonian women who had moved to Finland - had to rethink and reconsider their motherhood. However, in contrast to the Estonian women who had moved to Finland, Finnish women did not feel uncomfortable about standing out from the locals.… [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
