Matrilocality and female power: Single mothers in extended households

Based on a qualitative study of non-marital pregnancy and childbearing in t he Republic of Ireland, this article reports on the gendered power position of unmarried women who return to their parental homes following their babi es' births. It is argued that in matrilocal households, centralised male po wer associated with the traditional nuclear family is diffused to some exte nt. Empirical evidence to support this notion is to be found in analysing t he position of the putative father as 'guest in the home of his partner and child (the martrilocal household) and also in exploring the relationship b etween the participant and her own father within that household. In relatio n to her own father, it was found that reproducing an offspring provided th e women with some bargaining leverage vis-a-vis her own father within the f amily home. These reshaped relationships represent, to some extent at least , the undercutting of centralised male authority within the household. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.