SJC Women's Network Event: An Evening with Alex Bollen
- Date 30 September 2025 - 6.30 p.m. - 30 September 2025 - 9.30 p.m.
- Location ETH Hönggerberg, Zurich
The SJC Women's Network invite you to an evening with the author and alumna Alex Bollen (History, 1991), who will talk about her book Motherdom: Breaking free From Bad Science and Good Mother Myths that was published this year.
Motherdom explores how 'Good Mother' myths are used to censure mothers and blame them for societal ills. Bogus science is deployed to tell mothers what to do, while the concept of ‘nature’ is used to prescribe how mothers should feel and behave. Alex argues that we need to replace Good Mother myths with motherdom, a more generous and expansive conception of motherhood. Instead of finding fault with mothers, motherdom shifts our focus to the relationships and resources children need to flourish.
Alex Bollen is a researcher with over twenty years of experience, including as a former director of the research agency Ipsos MORI. She is a Postnatal Practitioner with the National Childbirth Trust (NCT), the UK’s largest charity offering information and support during pregnancy, childbirth, and early parenthood, and has run postnatal groups for new mothers in London for over a decade.
The event will explore Alex’s book as well as her process of writing and becoming published. It will include the opportunity for the audience to ask Alex questions and be followed by an apéro.

To register:
Find the book at:
Blackwells: https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/Motherdom-by-Alex-Bollen/9781804297537
Verso Books: https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/products/3281-motherdom
Open Access: https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/152069
Here some instructions about how to find the place:
This event is organized by 500 Women Scientists Zurich, with support from WiNS and InfoZentrum ETH.