Yuan Zuo A04 Week8

 In "Mothering Is Liberation: Giving Birth to Alagaan Pedagogy (Pedagogy of Care)" this article, as a mother,  the author Allyson discussed difficulties women face when they have children in Academia and she tried to create a "holistic, reciprocal relationship between mothering and intellectual studies." She had many doubts when she had children. For example, she had“I had no idea that you were a mother.” My mother once told me it's the first time She became a mom, so sometimes she did not know if she had done well or not. It's hard to judge what qualities needed to be a good mom. Some moms are strict while some others are not. But they typically do what they think are good for their children. Taking care of children sounds like a mom's job, always, in the society. For women like Allyson who had a high education degree but need to spend more time on families and children, they are really under some invisible pressures. Allyson defined the term "motherhood"as "the patriarchal institution of motherhood that is male-defined and controlled and is deeply oppressive to women." This is consistent with my thought. Why should always be moms to take care children? Through Allyson's words, I saw how hard to balance both families and work at the same time for women like the author. The author started PEP(a service learning and mentorship program developed initially particularly to address the needs of Filipino youths who were suffering from high dropout rates and intra-and inter-ethnic violence), helping more children by using her idea that mothering is liberation. I was moved by what she did in this program helping more people in the community.
                          
                               Picture from : http://www.pepsf.org/

References:
Valverde, K.-L. C., & Dariotis, W. M. (2020). Fight the tower: Asian American women scholars resistance and renewal in the academy. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.