In the last decades, several Brazilian middle class mothers began to work. Lower class women have always both worked and taken care of their children. Assuming the perspective of the Network of Meanings, this study investigates the senses of motherhood, child care and labor among four middle class working mothers and six groups of lower class working mothers. We carried out interviews and focus groups. These women understand that the education and the caring of the children is the mother's exclusive responsibility. They find it difficult to integrate motherhood and work. Labor has different senses in those two social classes.
Motherhood; Childcare; Femalelabor; Identity; Subjectivity