This collection explores how becoming and being a mother can be shaped by, and interconnected with, how mothers realize feminism and/or become feminists. Experiences of motherhood can involve unique discriminations and oppressions, as well as new challenges and possibilities. What may have been overlooked, tolerated, or perhaps even gone unnoticed before becoming a mother, can become overtly apparent or even unavoidable afterwards. Becoming a mother may also lead to a questioning of current feminist priorities and practices, and a recognition of the need for, or even demand for, a mother-centred mode of feminism. This anthology, separated into three sections – ‘Losing and Finding,’ ‘Challenging and Critiquing,’ and, ‘Connecting and Conversing’ – provides intersectionally sensitive and broad-ranging interdisciplinary insights into mothers’ perceptions of, connection to, and realizations of, feminism. International contributors examine this complex topic through a wide variety of texts including personal and scholarly essays, creative non-fiction, letters and Q and A style discussion, poetry, art, and photography.

Dr. Andrea O’Reilly is internationally recognized as the founder of Motherhood Studies (2006) and its subfield Maternal Theory (2007), and creator of Matricentric Feminism, a feminism for and about mothers (2016) and Matricritics, a literary theory and practice for a reading of mother-focused texts (2024). She is full professor in the School of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies at York University, founder/editor-in-chief of the Journal of the Motherhood Initiative and publisher of Demeter Press. She is co-editor/editor of thirty plus books on many motherhood topics including: Feminist Mothering, Young Mothers, Monstrous Mothers, Maternal Regret, Normative Motherhood, Mothers and Sons, Mothers and Daughters, Maternal Texts, Academic Motherhood, Mothers on Finding and Realizing Feminism and Mothering and Covid-19. She is editor of the Encyclopedia on Motherhood (2010) and co-editor of the Routledge Companion to Motherhood (2019). She is author of Toni Morrison and Motherhood: A Politics of the Heart (2004); Rocking the Cradle: Thoughts on Motherhood, Feminism, and the Possibility of Empowered Mothering (2006); and Matricentric Feminism: Theory, Activism, and Practice, The 2nd Edition (2021). Forthcoming titles include: The Mother Wave: Theorizing, Enacting, and Representing Matricentric Feminism , The Missing Mother, and Revolutionizing Motherlines. She is currently completing her monograph Matricritics as Literary Theory and Criticism: Reading the Maternal in Post-2010 Women’s Narratives. Matricritics as Literary Theory and Criticism: Reading the Maternal in Post-2010 Women’s Narratives. She is twice the recipient of York University’s “Professor of the Year Award” for teaching excellence and is the 2019 recipient of the Status of Women and Equity Award of Distinction from OCUFA (Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations). She has received more than 1.5 million dollars in grant funding for her research projects including two current ones: “Millennial Moms” and “Mothers and Returning to ‘Normal’: The Impact of the Pandemic on Mothering and Families.”

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Victoria Bailey is currently completing a PhD in Creative Writing and has a Master’s in Women’s Studies. Her writing has been included in a wide range of publications including other Demeter Press anthologies. She is also a feminist mother of three.

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Fiona Joy Green (she/her) is a cisgender, temporarily able-bodied, straight feminist mother who believes in the power of revolutionary feminist motherwork beyond the gender binary. She is a white settler and holds the position of Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of Winnipeg, located on ancestral lands, on Treaty One Territory, and on the homeland of the Métis peoples. Fiona is the author of Practicing Feminist Mothering (ARP) and co-editor of seven Demeter Press collections that address ever-changing feminist parenting practices and maternal pedagogies. Recent titles include Mothers, Mothering and COVID-19: Reflections from a Pandemic (2021), Parenting/ Internet/ Kids: Domesticating Technologies (2022), Coming into Being: Mothers on Finding and Realizing Feminism, (2023) and the forthcoming co-edited collection Revolutionizing Motherlines (2025).

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