Beginning in the late 19th century, competing ideas about motherhood had a profound impact on the development and implementation of social welfare policies. Calls for programmes aimed at assisting and directing mothers emanated from all quarters of the globe, advanced by states and voluntary organizations, liberals and conservatives, feminists and anti-feminists - a phenomenon that scholars have since termed ''maternalism''. This volume reassesses maternalism by providing critical reflections on prior usages of the concept, and by expanding its meaning to encompass geographical areas, political regimes and cultural concerns that scholars have rarely addressed. From Argentina, Brazil and Mexico City to France, Italy, the Netherlands, the Soviet Ukraine, the United States and Canada, these case studies offer fresh theoretical and historical perspectives within a transnational and comparative framework. As a whole, the volume demonstrates how maternalist ideologies have been employed by state actors, reformers and poor clients, with myriad political and social ramifications.

Marian van der Klein is Senior Researcher at the Verwey-Jonker Institute. Her historical research focuses on gender, social history and welfare states, especially the impact of social policy on the socioeconomic position of women.

Rebecca Jo Plant is Associate Professor of History at the University of California, San Diego, and the author of Mom: The Transformation of Motherhood in Modern America (2010).

Nichole Sanders is Associate Professor of History at Lynchburg College in Virginia. She recently published Gender and Welfare in Mexico: The Consolidation of a Postrevolutionary State (2011).

Lori R. Weintrob is Associate Professor and Chair of the History Department at Wagner College in New York City. Her research focuses on immigration, gender and public policy in France and the United States.