Becoming an employed mother: Conceptualising adult identity development through semiotic cultural lens

This paper makes a contribution to theories of adult identity development by considering how transitional experiences that characterise identity development are experienced. To achieve this, the paper draws upon a qualitative study with employed mothers in Australia. The conceptual lens of semiotic cultural psychology used in the paper focuses on the complexity and ambivalence that is characteristic of the transitional experience of becoming an employed mother and reveals how women's multiple possible developmental trajectories - dominant and dormant - emerge from this ambivalence, creating links with the past and keeping the possibility of becoming otherwise available in the future. The paper links sociological and psychological theory and research about employed mothers' experiences by emphasizing the significance of the socio-cultural context in which identity development occurs. It highlights the importance of developing cultural resources that support women as they psychologically and physically navigate their family, work and care responsibilities and related transitions.