Topics Feminism

Question I'm interested in creativity and gender: specifically why the discussion of women writers seems to get extraordinarily fraught when one throws in the idea of motherhood. I have seen young female writers write long manifestos about why they'll never be mothers because motherhood will interfere with their work; I've seen how mostly women who are granted bona fide "genius" status are childless (Austen, Dickinson, Eliot, Wharton, O'Connor, Welty). It is less severe today, but still exists: our only universally recognized feminine "geniuses" seem to be the non-mothers Zadie Smith, Joyce Carol Oates, and, of the six female Nobel laureates in literature in the past twenty years, only one half--Morrison, Lessing, and Gordimer--had children, which can't be representative of either the population of women in toto, or that of women who are writers. Worse, and this may simply be an assumption on my part, but oftentimes women don't get judged as "important" as their male counterparts until they are beyond the age of fertility. What's terrible is that I, a woman and feminist, find myself making the same shameful assumption of "lessening" when I know a female writer's biography. Why does this not happen to men who are fathers? Is there a mind-body prejudice that's happening? Is it entirely a perceived effect, or can there be argued that there's a real lessening in ability--not merely based on societal gender roles--but one based in the body itself? Or in language: see, for instance the ingrained judgment involved between a "seminal" writer and a "prolific" writer. Is there such a thing as "creativity" studies? Where can I go to read more? Thank you.

Accepted:
November 24, 2010

Comments

No doubt there is a debate on this topic in the literature, but whatever this says, it is surely the case that in most societies mothers are obliged to spend longer looking after their children than are fathers, and this obviously has an impact on the other things they can do. Writing is often a rather solitary activity and childcare does not usually fit in that well. It is hardly surprising that women find it harder to do as compared with men if both have family responsibilities. We still tend to expect more from women, and less from men. It is not just with respect to children but also with caring in general, for siblings perhaps or parents.

When I look after young children and take them out I receive all sorts of help and interaction from people, since the assumption is that if a man is doing it then this is unusual and unexpected. When their mother or grandmother take children out they are routinely ignored, this is just what is expected of women. Clearly this has always had a significant impact on the scope for creativity and achievement among women with children. There is nothing mysterious about it which requires reflection on the basic differences between men and women, it is surely a reflection on basic differences in gender differentiation.