Becoming a mother involves significant changes biologically, psychologically, socially, economically and even existentially. Understanding one’s role as a mother doesn’t just happen after giving birth, but is a continual developmental process known as matrescence. Many, however, don’t know this term — or its feeling and stages — exists.

Nicole Dillard, associate professor in the College of Education and Human Development (CEHD) at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, is advancing that knowledge by examining experiences of matrescence within the workplace and how organizations can be designed to support mothers over time.

Meeting of the mothers

On September 7 at the Minnesota State Fair, Dillard and CEHD colleagues Taylor Cavallo Siering and Ana Carolina Rodriguez will invite working mothers to participate in an interactive heat-mapping activity — guided by the Matrescence Experience Framework developed by Dillard — to identify how supported they felt by their workplace across a matrix including five stages (e.g., initial anticipation of pregnancy or raising adult children) and nine domains (e.g., biological or cultural changes) of matrescence.

“Rather than simply asking, ‘Does your workplace support mothers?’ I want to understand when and what kinds of support are needed, and what dimensions of the maternal experience organizations are supporting well — or overlooking,” says Dillard.

Working mothers are in every sector of Minnesota’s economy. Organizational understanding of motherhood, broadly, has not changed to support mothers beyond the single event of childbirth.

Dillard says the study also broadens our understanding of workforce development as a whole. Rather than focusing only on developing people's knowledge, skills and careers, her work asks how organizations themselves can develop alongside their employees.

“If people are continually developing and changing across their lives, then the organizations also need the capacity to develop and to change alongside their employees,” says Dillard. “So much becomes possible when organizations take those changes in identity seriously, not simply as challenges that require accommodations, but as sources of knowledge, development, experience and capacity.”

Moving research forward

Research participation in the University of Minnesota State Fair Research Building has been an important aspect of advancing the University’s mission and connecting to the communities we serve.  

This year, fairgoers can take part in more than 60 studies that will translate into future scholarship, policy or practical knowledge to benefit the people of Minnesota.

“The University is simultaneously an employer, an educator, and a producer of knowledge about people and society,” says Dillard. “Doing research at the fair allows the community to actively participate in shaping the knowledge that we create.”

Learn more about the University’s presence at the Minnesota State Fair.