Indonesian mum-influencers: motherhood,creative work and the challenges of a precarious workforce

Abstract

This study explores how Indonesian ‘Mumpreneur’ Influencers (influencers) navigate neoliberal precarity and patriarchal gender norms through their work as stay-at-home mum influencers on Instagram. This research combines a qualitative analysis of the Instagram accounts of Indonesian mumpreneurs with in-depth interviews with 32 mothers, who identify as mumpreneurs and mumfluencers. The interviews shed light on their motivations, content strategies and the challenges of self-entrepreneurship in an increasingly saturated market. The study argues that influencer Mumpreneurship is a complex and contradictory phenomenon. Although mumprenuerships are often praised as empowered entrepreneurs, this research shows that mumprenuership is not just a strategy for fiscal sustainability but is also a symptom of broader problems. These include precarious childbirth and gender barriers to formal employment, the absence of supportive employment policies for working mothers, and widespread gender bias in the world of work.