[1] It centers on the language of motherhood to justify women's political activities, actions and validate state or public policies.
On the other hand, others consider it to be different from feminism due to some maternalists incorporating a shared characteristic that the male figure in the household should be the economic provider and that a woman's central role is as a mother.
[10] These establishments provided housing, resources, and public services to working-class individuals and newly arrived immigrants.
[18][16] In 1874, single Protestant women known as matrons founded the Presbyterian Mission Home in San Francisco and lasted into the early 20th century.
[19] According to historian Peggy Pascoe, the Presbyterian Mission Home's primary objective was to "rescue" Chinese immigrant women from prostitution and educate them about Christian gender and family norms.
[17] For Protestant women, the Christian home was a traditional ideal and value, rooted in the Victorian gender system, as well as the newer idea of "companionate marriage.
"[19][20] Matrons who embraced the companionate marriage ideal believed the space of the mission home would provide moral values of purity and piety for the betterment of women they took in.
Other Chinese women went to the matrons when their husbands died and consequently became under the control of their in-laws or when they wanted to build better relationships with their relatives.
[23] At the turn of the 20th century, socially acceptable occupations for middle-class white women included teaching and nursing.
Women of color experienced widespread employment discrimination and became primarily regulated to specific service industries, domestic and agricultural work.
[14] For example, as home economics emerged in the 1890s at MIT and the University of Chicago, women studied science and used experiments to influence politics.
[14] Following World War II in 1945, there was a high social and political demand to reform and expand the United States daycare system.
In effect, the United States government made many public policies to protect the American family and home.
[11][27] Throughout the Post World War II era, between 1945 and the late 1960s, different forms of maternalism emerged as women increasingly joined the paid workforce more profoundly.
[27][30] In both cases, some social workers rejected maternal employment while others advocated and celebrated the idea of working women.
The Children's Bureau dates back to 1912; Julia Lathrop, a maternalist reformer, founded the agency and later became the head chief.
[34] Some envisioned a daycare program that would replace mother's care with top-tier trained professionals for early childhood development.
Others saw a daycare program as a solution to help children with absent mothers stay out of trouble, such as falling into the criminal system or continuing the cycle of poverty.
Many social workers and child welfare professionals argued that having a working parent in the home, like the mother, could also bring psychological benefits to the children.
As a social worker named Alice Merriam stated in 1959: “Any mother thinking about taking a job should carefully consider such matters as the age of her child, his emotional readiness to be separated from her, and the possible alternative solution.”[43] In all, while social workers, such as those within the ADC program, debated over whether or not maternal employment should be a viable option, they integrated arguments that working mothers could bring psychological and emotional benefits to the American family, and most importantly, their children.
[44] During the Welfare Rights Movement in the late 1960s and early 1970s, society in the United States did not expect mothers to work outside the home.
The first is referred to by scholar Cynthia Edmonds-Cady as "experiential maternalism," as a sub-type that aided predominantly low-income African American welfare recipients.
On the other hand, Cynthia Edmonds-Cady describes "sentimental maternalism" as a sub-type used mainly by white middle-class women, who had some involvement within the Welfare Rights movement.
[50] During this movement, many women embracing both the experimental and sentimental maternalist mentalities saw their welfare rights activists' efforts as a larger extension of their job as mothers.