50 Years of Becoming a Mother
This project examines women's transition to motherhood over the last 50 years in the UK
The project runs from February 2025 to September 2029 and is funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) – Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).
News
BAM50 host special screening at UCL
In July we held a special screening event as part of UCL200. Over eighty people joined us to watch a 1978 archival broadcast from Thames Television, featuring Ann Oakley and two first-time mothers from the original BAM study, reflecting on their experiences of becoming a mother. Nearly five decades later they reunited for a live…
New BAM50 Publication with The Sociological Review
BAM50 team members Charlotte Faircloth, Ann Oakley, Kate Hague (née Errington) and Meg Wiggins, have published an article about the project in The Sociological Review. The article, titled ‘Fifty Years of “Becoming a Mother”: The Social History of a Research Project Over Half a Century’ discusses some of the methodological, practical and ethical challenges of…
BAM50 Team visit North-East Community Exhibition
Members of the BAM50 Team Ann Oakley, Charlotte Faircloth, and Kate Errington visited South Shields Museum and Art Gallery to see the new exhibition and play space, Let’s Play: Under 7s Activities & the Experience of Being a Mam. Developed in collaboration with local women from Bright Futures South Shields, the exhibition explores themes of…
Project Leaders
Charlotte Faircloth
Professor of Family and Society at the UCL Social Research Institute and Project Leader of the BAM50 project.
Ann Oakley
Professor of Sociology and Social Policy, is one of the most influential sociologists of post-war Britain, and Co-Project Leader on BAM50.
Meg Wiggins
Senior Research Officer and Lecturer in Social Policy at the UCL Social Research Institute, and Co-Project Leader of BAM50.