This chapter reflects on the shifting public discourses in Britain concerning mothers and the labour market from the end of the Second World War and shows how the framing of research questions reflects these changing public discourses. History is constituted through events and diverse intersecting and colliding interests that are shaped by the actions, resistances and discourses of those with less power, as well as those holding the reins of power. While these processes are complex, our understanding of history is often influenced by particular narratives that appear to provide a coherent account of events. One such narrative is that, at the end of the Second World War, women were ejected from many of the jobs in which they had worked in wartime to create work for returning servicemen and that this ejection marked a watershed in women's lives and a backward step in female emancipation. As Denise Riley's (1983) historical analysis of motherhood and childcare suggests, the reality was more complex, involving political, economic and social elements, and the labour market orientations of women themselves.

One major element of political concern in the post-war period was low birth rates and their economic and social consequences. An important priority of medical authorities was to improve the health and nutrition of families and to regulate mother craft (Riley, 1983). Public nurseries had been established in wartime to accommodate children whose mothers took on jobs in armament factories and other work that men had previously done. After the war these nurseries were regarded by some health experts as a potential site for health intervention: to ‘free’ women, especially poor women, to give birth to more children and as opportunities to cement marriages (Riley, 1983: 172). The government, however, was afraid that the continuing provision of nurseries would obstruct the creation of jobs for returning servicemen. Its view prevailed and a large proportion of public nurseries were closed. As the Ministry of Health circular 221/1945 sets out: