What the 18th Century Reveals About Working Motherhood

Posted August 12, 2025 in Creative Writing, English & Media Studies, Faculty, Publications & Research

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Think working motherhood is a modern struggle? Try doing it in a corset.

In What Can the 18th Century Teach Us About Working Motherhood? on the Rutgers–Camden Faculty Blog, Ellen Malenas Ledoux—associate professor and chair of the Department of English and Communication, which houses the Creative Writing MFA and English and Media Studies MA programs—traces today’s “supermom” pressures back to the 18th century. Drawing on her book Laboring Women: Reproducing Women and Work in the Eighteenth Century, she reveals how Enlightenment-era ideals still shape the impossible expectations placed on women balancing career and family.

From Sarah Siddons touring with her child to modern celebrity mothers juggling public careers, Ledoux connects centuries of shared challenges—and makes the case that understanding this history is key to changing the conversation today. Read the full post to see how the past may hold answers for the future of working motherhood.

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