Parenting gone wired: empowerment of new mothers on the Internet?

The extension of information and communication technologies is purported to provide great opportunities for women, with the potential for empowerment and feminist activism. This paper contributes to the debate about women and cyberspace through a focus on the role of the internet in the lives of a group of technologically proficient, socially advantaged white heterosexual new mothers. The internet played a central role in providing virtual social support and alternative information sources which increased these women’s real sense of empowerment in the transition to motherhood. Simultaneously, however, very traditional stereotypes of mothering and gender roles persisted. A paradox is evident whereby the internet was both liberating and constraining: it played an important social role for some women while at the same time it encouraged restrictive and unequal gender stereotypes in this particular community of practice. An examination of new virtual parenting spaces therefore has a contribution to make in understanding changing parenting practices in the new millennium. L'expansion des technologies de l'information et de la communication est censée pouvoir offrir de multiples possibilités aux femmes susceptibles de renforcer leur autonomie et le militantisme féministe. Cet article apporte un éclairage au débat sur les femmes et le cyberespace en examinant le rôle de l'Internet dans les vies d'un groupe composé de nouvelles mères de race blanche, hétérosexuelle, socialement plus avantagées et maîtrisant les nouvelles technologies. L'Internet a joué un rôle primordial dans le développement d'un milieu de soutien social virtuel et l'offre de sources alternatives d'informations qui ont permis d'accroître leur sentiment réel d'être autonome lors du passage au stade de la maternité. En parallèle, toutefois, les idées stéréotypées traditionnelles du maternage et des rôles sexospécifiques persistent. Un paradoxe émerge entre l'effet libérateur et contraignant de l'Internet: celui-ci a joué un rôle social important pour quelques femmes tandis qu'il a simultanément favorisé des stéréotypes liés au genre restreignants et inégaux au sein de cette communauté de pratique. L'étude des nouveaux espaces virtuels qui encadrent le métier de parent sert donc à mieux comprendre les pratiques des parents au nouveau millénaire. Se sugiere que el aumento de tecnologías de informática y comunicación les ofrece grandes oportunidades a las mujeres, con la posibilidad de empoderamiento y activismo feminista. Este papel contribuye al debate sobre mujeres y el ciberespacio por medio de un estudio del papel del internet en las vidas de un grupo de madres nuevas, blancas y heterosexuales, privilegiadas socialmente y muy competentes en el uso de nuevas tecnologías. El internet jugaba un papel importante al ofrecerles apoyo social virtual y fuentes alternativos de información, lo cual aumentaba el sentido de poder real que tenían estas mujeres en la transición hacia la maternidad. Sin embargo, simultaneamente, persistían estereotipos muy tradicionales de la maternidad y los papeles de los géneros. Existía una paradoja en que el internet les liberaba tanto como les limitaba. Jugaba un papel social importante para algunas mujeres pero, al mismo tiempo, fomentaba estereotipos de género limitantes y desiguales en esta comunidad de práctica. Como consecuencia, este estudio de nuevos espacios virtuales para madres tiene algo que contribuir a nuestro entendimiento de cambios en las prácticas de criar a los hijos en el nuevo milenio

Migrants' social networks and weak ties: accessing resources and constructing relationships post-migration

Within migration studies literature there is a tendency to assume that migrants have ready access to kin and friendship networks which facilitate the migration and settling processes. Through tight bonds of trust and reciprocity, these networks are considered to be sources of social capital, providing a counter-balance to the disadvantages that migrants may encounter in the destination society. This paper argues that more attention is needed to the ways in which migrants access, maintain and construct different types of networks, in varied social locations, with diverse people. I suggest that the often simplistic dichotomy of bonding and bridging capital needs to be re-appraised and instead offer an alternative way of thinking about these social ties. The distinction between them tends to be understood on the basis of the ethnicity of the people involved – bonding involves close ties with ‘people like us’ while bridging involves links beyond ‘group cleavages’. Insufficient attention has been paid to the actual resources flowing between these ties or the kinds of relationship developing between the actors involved. The nature of these social networks may be better understood by focusing on the relationship between the actors, their relative social location, and their available and realisable resources. Data from a qualitative study of Polish migrants in London is used to illustrate this approach