Okategoriserade Laura Lapinské (151) Care to live. Everyday strategies among single mothers in Lithuania

Abstract [en] This dissertation, Care to Live, offers an in-depth ethnographic study of well-educated single mothers navigating everyday life in Kaunas, […]

Published on balticworlds.com on April 14, 2026

Abstract [en]

This dissertation, Care to Live, offers an in-depth ethnographic study of well-educated single mothers navigating everyday life in Kaunas, Lithuania – a post-socialist semi-periphery marked by structural precarity. Through feminist activist ethnography, the author examines how these women develop material, emotional, and social strategies to survive and care within conditions shaped by neoliberalism, insufficient welfare systems, and societal stigma.

The dissertation is grounded in Social Reproduction Theory and feminist critiques of neoliberalism. It highlights how care work – often unpaid and invisibilised – is central to single mothers’ lives, constituting both a burden and a potential site of resistance. Lapinskė interrogates how normative ideals of family, motherhood, and success intersect with class, gender, and labour to shape women’s lived experiences.

Divided into six main chapters, the dissertation addresses: transformations in post-Soviet Lithuania; the stigma and material hardships faced by single mothers; coping mechanisms including informal support networks of kin, neighbours, and friends; and the redefinition of maternal “failure” as a political critique of neoliberal expectations. Drawing from interviews, diary notes, and observations, Lapinskė documents how these women reclaim agency and community through care practices, solidarity, and creative resilience – often resisting imposed ideals of perfect motherhood, strength and self-sufficiency.

Ultimately, Care to Live argues that single motherhood in Lithuania must be understood not as individual deficiency but as a site where systemic inequalities – especially gendered and classed precarities – manifest and are resisted. The work contributes to feminist ethnography, post-socialist studies, and care politics by centring the voices and strategies of women at the margins of dominant narratives.

Subject: Gender Studies

Public defence of thesis: 27 Mars 2026

https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?aq2=%5B%5B%5D%5D&c=3&af=%5B%5D&searchType=SIMPLE&sortOrder2=title_sort_asc&query=Laura+Lapinske&language=sv&pid=diva2%3A2039931&aq=%5B%5B%5D%5D&sf=all&aqe=%5B%5D&sortOrder=author_sort_asc&onlyFullText=false&noOfRows=50&dswid=3100

Florence Fröhlig