ABSTRACT
Inherent within neoliberalism is a morality that places mothers at its very core. And yet, while neoliberal philosophy prioritizes the role of mothers and the institution of the family, it contradictorily recognizes only individual market actors. The specific identification of mothering in the market realm only further entrenches dualistic conceptualizations of motherhood by creating a sudden exclusive “working mother” categorization that does not incorporate reproduction or caregiving. Mothers must be neoliberal self-optimizing economic agents in the “public” realm and maternalist self-sacrificing mothers in the “private” realm. The more mothers become integrated within the market, the more do essentialist maternalist conceptualizations of mothering predominate. Despite mothers being the primary producers, consumers, and reproducers of the neoliberal world, there has not been a corresponding economic acknowledgement of the centrality of mothers as essential to the neoliberal paradigm, resulting globally in a complete lack of support structures and economic compensation.
