Journal of Technical Writing and Communication Jul 2014

Redefining the Workplace: The Professionalization of Motherhood through Blogging

Emily January Petersen Utah State University

Abstract

Professional identity is oft explored in the field, but such identities usually reside institutionally and may exclude women who engage in professional communication from the workplace of the home. One instantiation of this extra-institutional professionalism is mom blogs, the authors of which create content, find sponsors, and address issues important to mothers. Yet the women lack legitimacy as professionals because of the title “mommy blogger” and because of the notion that blogging is a hobby. My qualitative study explores how mom bloggers claim a professional space in communication. I interviewed 22 mom bloggers, using Faber's (2002, [18]) theory of professionalism and Durack's (1997, [17]) ideas of redefining terms, such as “workplace,” to include women. My findings show that mom bloggers engage in the characteristics of professional communicators, model egalitarian professionalism, employ an ethic of care that combats elitism, and challenge the field to include their work, from the home and through new media, as professional.

Journal
Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Published
2014-07-01
DOI
10.2190/tw.44.3.d
CompPile
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Open Access
Closed
Topics
professional writing qualitative research digital rhetoric
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (12)

  1. Jordan et al. (2025)
    Queer Potential in Professional Communication: “Queer Use” & Terms of Service
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  2. Hatcher et al. (2024)
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  3. Hsiao (2024)
    Professional Critical Consciousness: Bridging Classroom Theory with Workplace P…
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  4. Stambler (2022)
    “An Excelent Good Remedi”: Medical Recipes as Ethos-Building Tactical Technical…
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  5. Moeggenberg et al. (2022)
    Trans Oppression Through Technical Rhetorics: A Queer Phenomenological Analysis…
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Show all 12 →
  1. Itchuaqiyaq et al. (2022)
    Sex Work and Professional Risk Communication: Keeping Safe on the Streets
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  2. Rajan (2021)
    Making When Ends Don’t Meet: Articulation Work and Visibility of Domestic Labor…
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  3. Itchuaqiyaq et al. (2021)
    Decolonizing decoloniality: considering the (mis)use of decolonial frameworks i…
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  4. Edenfield (2019)
    Research in Cooperatives: Developing a Politically Conscious Research Methodology
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  5. Petersen et al. (2018)
    Bridging Analysis and Action: How Feminist Scholarship Can Inform the Social Ju…
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  6. Carradini (2018)
    An Organizational Structure of Indie Rock Musicians as Displayed by Facebook Usage
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  7. Petersen (2017)
    Empathetic user design: understanding and living the reality of an audience
    Communication Design Quarterly

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CrossRef global citation count: 20 View in citation network → Build reading path →

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