News
Ann Oakley honoured in UCL200
Congratulations to Professor Ann Oakley who has been named one of the ‘faces of UCL’. As part of UCL’s bicentennial celebrations, Ann is recognised for contributing to 200 years of ground-breaking research, innovation, education and impact at the university. “For over 50 years, her work has challenged perceptions of gender, domestic labour and motherhood, tracing…
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…
PhD Studentship with Bloomsbury Colleges
Apply for a PhD studentship with BAM50 PI Professor Charlotte Faircloth and Co-Supervisor Professor Lisa Baraitser. Professor Ann Oakley’s ground-breaking Becoming a Mother project reshaped thinking about motherhood in the late 20th century, established a multi-disciplinary area of academic research, and provoked a sea-change in practice and policy around maternity care. 50 years on from…
Join us for a Special Event at UCL with Ann Oakley
Book your place Thursday 16 July 2026, 5-7pm. UCL (Bentham House, Endsleigh Gardens). Step back into a landmark moment in the history of motherhood research with this special event revisiting Ann Oakley’s ground breaking ‘Becoming a Mother’ study, as part of UCL200. The evening opens with a screening of a 1978 archival broadcast from Thames…
Charlotte Faircloth and Rachel Arkell present keynote at Sociology Conference
In May 2026, Charlotte Faircloth and Rachel Arkell presented the keynote address at the British Sociological Association (BSA) Human Reproduction Study Group Annual Conference. Their paper, ’50 Years of Becoming a Mother: Reflections on motherhood research over half a century’ focused on what it means to conduct a ‘repeat’ study in changing social contexts and…
“It takes a village”: Charlotte Faircloth comments on the challenges of modern parenting
In a recent Independent article, Charlotte Faircloth noted how modern society and the ideal of a nuclear family makes it difficult for parents to build a village. “Society” she said “is structured in such a way that it can be hard for parents to build a village – the ideal of the nuclear family, consisting…
BAM50 Present UCL Lunch Hour Lecture
In March 2026, Charlotte Faircloth, Kate Errington and Rachel Arkell presented a UCL Lunch Hour Lecture, chaired by Meg Wiggins. The UCL Lunch Hour Lecture series, running since 1942, showcases exceptional UCL research. In the lecture the team gave an overview of the ’50 Years of Becoming a Mother’ project. Watch the lecture here or…
Watch Archival Footage of Ann Oakley discussing the original Becoming a Mother Project
In October 1978, Professor Ann Oakley appeared on Thames Television’s After Noon with Mavis Nicholson. Joined by two mothers from the original Becoming a Mother study, they discuss the realities of first-time motherhood. In this clip, Ann introduces the project. Thanks to Fremantle for providing access to this archival material.
BAM50 paper presented at Politics of Motherhood conference
BAM50 Research Fellow, Kate Errington, presented a paper at the Politics of Motherhood: Maternalism, Maternity and Mothering conference, hosted by the University of Worcester. In it she reflected on the process of re-analysing Oakley’s original transcripts, the practical challenges, ethical implications, and opportunities for identifying “new” research themes using historical data.
Charlotte Faircloth features on BBC Radio 4’s ‘Child’ podcast
How have our ideas about parenting changed over the last 50 years, and specifically, why are we more ‘anxious’ than ever in how to go about it? You can hear BAM50 project leader Charlotte Faircloth on the BBC Radio 4 programme/Podcast ‘Child’, episode 7 on “Anxiety’