Successful Women but “Bad Mothers”: Negative Motherhood Evaluations as Backlash Against Working Mothers

Yingmiao Shao, Jialin Zhou, Lu Chen, Fang Wang, Beijing Key Laboratory of Applied Experimental Psychology, National Demonstration Center for Experimental Psychology Education, Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University

Psychology of Women Quarterly

Published online on February 24, 2026

Abstract

Psychology of Women Quarterly, Ahead of Print.
Mothers are often held to unrealistic expectations that can create a significant amount of pressure. Guided by the status incongruity hypothesis and our conceptualization of motherhood as shaped by patriarchy, the present research proposes that women's ...