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Essential Labor: Mothering as Social Change
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NATIONAL BESTSELLERAngela Garbes has given us the definitive explanation for something we all share: the sense that something is not right about our societys treatment of parenting. Essential Labor is a beautifully written, painstakingly researched, and courageously personal book. Garbes reveals the way systems exploit caregiving and shows us how the essential work of mothering can fix not just family life, but society. A timely and unforgettable book.Heather McGhee, New York Times bestselling author of The Sum of UsFrom the acclaimed author of Like a Mother comes a reflection on the state of caregiving in America, and an exploration of mothering as a means of social change.The Covid19 pandemic shed fresh light on a longoverlooked truth: mothering is among the only essential work humans do. In response to the increasing weight placed on mothers and caregiversand the lack of a social safety net to support themwriter Angela Garbes found herself pondering a vital question: How, under our current circumstances that leave us lonely, exhausted, and financially strained, might we demand more from American family life?In Essential Labor, Garbes explores assumptions about care, work, and deservedness, offering a deeply personal and rigorously reported look at what mothering is, and can be. A firstgeneration FilipinoAmerican, Garbes shares the perspective of her familys complicated relationship to care work, placing mothering in a global contextthe invisible economic engine that has been historically demanded of women of color.Garbes contends that while the labor of raising children is devalued in America, the act of mothering offers the radical potential to create a more equitable society. In Essential Labor, Garbes reframes the physically and mentally draining work of meeting a childs bodily and emotional needs as opportunities to find meaning, to nurture a deeper sense of self, pleasure, and belonging. This is highly skilled labor, work that impacts society at its most foundational level.Part galvanizing manifesto, part poignant narrative, Essential Labor is a beautifully rendered reflection on care that reminds us of the irrefutable power and beauty of mothering.
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This product may contain chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer, birth defects, or other reproductive harm.
For more information, please visit www.P65Warnings.ca.gov.