From: ToKHogan@aol.com Date: Wed, 10 Mar 1999 11:45:07 EST Subject: Study: Lesbian Mothers This is a message from Dr. Gill Dunne who published a recent study that concludes that lesbian mothers are providing positive role models for parenting. Dr. Dunne is from the London School of Economics, Gender Institute. References and contact information are provided at the end of the message. -- Kathy Hogan ______________________________________________________________________ "Hi everyone! I have been caught up in the whirl of publicity/enquiries following the reporting of my study on the allocation of work and parenting in lesbian partnerships, and felt I should thank everyone who has supported me and shown an interest in finding out more. I would like to pass on some references to publications from the research for your own interest and evaluation. I feel wonderfully linked up with our global community following the recent front page treatment of my research findings in The Sunday Express (popular tabloid known for its right wing opinion rather than radicalism) on 14th February - see especially their opinion section. There is a feeling that we have made a break through regarding the representation of lesbian motherhood - see Lisa Saffrons article in Diva (April) - by suggesting that heterosexual parents, and society at large, has much to learn from lesbian/gay creativity and the emphasis on egalitarianism. My work contributes to wider feminist debates by providing some evidence to counter both the fairness and efficiency of traditional gender divisions of labour, by showing that sharing domestic and employment demands enables more time to devote to the pleasures and labour of childcare. Below is the Independent's treatment of the findings - and of course I would never say lesbians make better parents, because parenting is a struggle and the most we can hope to be is good enough. Nonetheless, my message is that there is much to learn from lesbian and gay people. While much of this represents common sense to lesbians, my hope is to play some role in bringing important work on sexuality from the margins to the centre of feminist enquiry by illustrating the relationship between sexuality and gender -thus arguing that lesbian experience as women helps illuminate sources of constraint and empowerment with respect to gender relations. In other words, I opperationalize the idea that institutional heterosexuality contributes to the reproduction of inequality, ideologically and materially. Given this recent enthusiasm for knowing more about the research I have taken the liberty of jotting down some references to published work (at the end of this message). Please feel free to contact me for copies of the report and forthcoming articles: gdunne@jasmine.u-net.com. Again thanks for being there - gill " (Dr. Gill Dunne) [Text of article printed in the Independent, about Dr. Dunne's research on lesbian parents]: The Independent (London) Mon, 15 Feb Article: "Lesbians 'are better parents' " LESBIAN COUPLES are better at sharing the household chores than traditional parents, leaving both partners more time to spend with the children, says new research. A comparison of heterosexual and lesbian parents by Gill Dunne, a Cambridge University researcher, found conventional parents had much to learn from two-mother families. In lesbian families, both the mother and the co-parent tended to regard parenthood as a combination of mothering and breadwinning. Whereas ideologies of motherhood and fatherhood polarised responsibilities for children among heterosexual couples, single-sex households were able to negotiate more balanced lifestyles. We have a situation where, in many families, the father is designated the breadwinner and the mother takes on responsibility for looking after the household," said Dr Dunne. "We found lesbian couples split their time at work so effectively they bring in.half an income each. This allows them to devote more time to the children than the conventional model. This is something that parents can learn a lot from. "There is nothing to say that one parent has to be a breadwinner. It ends up with a father or mother spending so much time at work that they never see their children." Most of the 43 couples studied had young children, paid employment and were educated to degree level. The research was funded by a u150,000 grant from the Economic and Social Research Council. Dr. Dunne, a widow now based at the London School of Economics, said lesbians made good parents. "Their children are enormously wanted, very loved and born into an environment where both parents have been brought up to provide a stable household." [Note: End of article, continuing with message by Dr. Dunne:-- KH] THE LESBIAN HOUSEHOLD PROJECT - The Lesbian Household Project is a recently `completed' Economic and Social Research Council-funded project on divisions of paid and un-paid labour in lesbian partnerships. The study was carried out over four years, and employed a wide range of methods (including time-use diaries, innovative participatory techniques and in-depth interviews) to investigate the allocation of work and parenting responsibilities in 44 cohabiting lesbian partnerships. The majority of households had dependent children, most of whom were conceived via donor insemination. This proved to be a very enjoyable and affirming project. The findings are interesting and have radical implications for mainstream understandings of gender, work and work and family-life. A key insight being the creativity and possibilities for more egalitarian arrangements experienced by women organizing their lives beyond the constraints of heterosexuality. The project built upon theoretical and empirical insights gained in an earlier life- history study which drew on the experiences of growing up, education, work and relationships of 60 non- heterosexual women. Lesbian Lifestyles: Women's Work and the Politics of Sexuality. Starting with the assumption that sexuality is socially constructed and that heterosexuality is a compulsory institution which plays a central role in reproducing gender inequalities, the research asked how and with what consequences do women come to question the taken-for-grantedness of heterosexuality? This research explores and highlights links between empowerment and the capacity to evaluate and move beyond the confines of heterosexuality. It illuminates a material dimension to sexuality. As most women do not learn to a living wage, the capacity to live independently of men needs to be recognized as an economic achievement - a lesbian lifestyle tends to both necessitate and facilitate financial self reliance. A key insight is ways that sexuality and gender overlap to shape women's experience, skill development and employment opportunities. Publications from the Lesbian Household Project include: `Pioneers Behind Our Own Front Doors: New Models for the Organization of Work in Partnerships' Work Employment and Society Vol 12, No 2 (June, 1998). `A Passion for `Sameness': Sexuality and Gender Accountability' in E. Silva and C. Smart (eds) The `New' Family? London: Sage. 1998 `Add Sexuality and Stir: Towards a broader understanding of the gender dynamics of work and family life' in G. A. Dunne (ed) Work and Family Life: special edition of the Journal of Lesbian Studies volume 2 Number 4 (October 1998). With Andrea Doucet `Who Essentially Cares? Towards a Reformulation of the Gender Dynamics of Care Giving,' with Andrea Doucet, in Andrea O'Reilly and Sharon Abbey (eds) International Perspectives on Mothers and Daughters. Toronto: Rowman and Littlefield. (In press: June, 1999). `Opting into Motherhood: Lesbians blurring the boundaries and re-defining the meaning of parenting' Gender and Society (fall 1999). `What Difference Does Difference Make? Lesbian experience of Work and Family Life' in J. Seymour and P. Bagguley (eds) Relating Intimacies: Power and Resistance.MacMillan and BSA. (In press: Spring 1999). `Balancing Acts: On the Salience of Sexuality and Sexual Identity for Understanding the Gendering of Work and Family-Life Opportunities' in L. Sperling and M. Owen (eds) Women and Work: The Age of Post-Feminism? Aldershot: Ashgate (forthcoming). I have recently moved from the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, at Cambridge University, to the more supportive environment of The LSE Gender Institute: Dr. Gill Dunne LSE Gender Institute London School of Economics Houghton Street London WC2A 2AE 0171 955 7305 Best telephone contact:. Home office 01223 294733 email gdunne@jasmine.u-net.com [End of transmission. -- KH]