Paper short abstract:

Illustrating the maternity experiences of Ethiopian and Tanzanian domestic workers, this article explores how women imagine, represent and plan for the future in different ways during several phases of their lives.

Paper long abstract:

This contribution reflects on the reproductive experiences of Tanzanian and Ethiopian women who, since their childhood, move to different (rural and urban) areas in both countries to work as domestic workers in their employers' households. Through the analysis of their narratives and life trajectories, I show how women perceive, conceive and represent crucial moments of transition to adulthood, imagine and plan future projects. In particular, I describe the motherhood experiences of some domestic workers I met, the resulting changes in their working and relational lives, and the different motherhood strategies that women mobilise. Throughout different phases of their lives, women change the way they imagine their future, rethink and creatively reshape life plans and strategies to achieve certain goals. Some women did not have children when I first met them in Ethiopia and Tanzania. But the situation had radically changed when I returned back to the field during a second research period. The women who had become pregnant in the meantime, or had become mothers, had changed their strategies and life plans. But also the way they described their past and present experiences, as well as the way they imagined their future and that of others. In this paper, imagining and planning for the future are therefore analysed by considering their temporalities and illustrating, in comparative terms, the motherhood practices in the everyday lives of Ethiopian and Tanzanian domestic workers.