This research probed the intersections of public life writing and digital work among women, specifically a group called Work-At-Home Moms (WAHMs), who are engaged in blogging and use the blog for economic gains. Blogging, as a form of public life writing through new media, is a form of self-representation, and in the context of mom-bloggers, a self-representation of domestic life while allowing them to become economically productive through the monetization of blogs. Through blogging, both through self-representation and the act of carving out time and space to work-at-home, mom-bloggers may negotiate, challenge, or reinforce dominant ideologies about mothers and mothering. The workplace of a blogger/WAHM is also her home and as such, work, family, and personal boundaries are blurred. As WAHMs, they execute both income-generating activities and maternal duties on a daily basis.
Seeking to contribute to the local and global literature on digital labor and gender, I drew from 15 interviews with bloggers and WAHMs in order to understand: 1) the labor of motherhood blogging and the process of public life writing of Filipino mothers, 2) the material environment of 'work-at-home' mothering, 3) how online and domestic work are simultaneously performed by mothers and how boundary is constructed to perform work in both areas efficiently, and 4) how home/family and work relationships are shaped and reshaped in the context of 'work-at-home' blogging.
This website, capturing the intricate labor of motherhood blogging and the experiences of work-at-home mothering, intends to share the results of the study. It is the production component that accompanies the thesis track of the Master of Arts in Communication major in Applied Media Studies program of the Department of Communication of De La Salle University Manila.