“It is not the end of my life”: positive identity (re)constructions among young mothers in rural South-Western Nigeria

ABSTRACT

Social norms around the timing of motherhood mean that young mothers are often viewed as different and negatively stereotyped. Drawing on data from South-Western Nigeria, this paper explores unmarried young women’s identity (re)construction in the context of the negative societal representations of young motherhood. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 24 young mothers, using photo-elicitation as a complementary method. The results revealed that despite facing social stigma, some young mothers were able to challenge negative societal stereotypes, reframe the challenges they faced as mothers and construct positive maternal identities for themselves. Our findings offer insights into the complex interplay between stigma and identity formation and provide recommendations for sustainable interventions and social support to empower young mothers in Nigeria.

KEYWORDS:

• Identity
• young motherhood
• stigma
• gender
• Nigeria

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to all those who agreed to be interviewed for this study.

Author contribution statement

AO, PW and LH contributed substantially to the conception of the work. AO, PH and LH developed the research design while AO collected and analysed the data. AO and PW drafted the article, and LH was involved in revising it critically for important intellectual content. The research team [i.e. AO, PW and LH] were involved in the systematic analysis of the data. AO, PW and LH have approved the final version of the manuscript to be published and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. However, it should be noted that this approach is not without its challenges. In this study, some potential participants opted out of the research due to their perceived lack of confidence in taking pictures. Amongst those who opted to be in the study, some of the study participants felt that the images they captured simplified the complexities of their experiences.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by The Open University’s Faculty of Well-being, Education and Language Studies [Funding Agency #1], and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) under Grant [number ES/X007375/1] [Funding Agency #2].