The Price of Motherhood: Why the Most Important Job in the World Is Still the Least Valued
The Price of Motherhood: Why the Most Important Job in the World Is Still the Least Valued
THE 10TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION OF THE NATIONAL BESTSELLER THAT CHANGED AMERICA’S VIEW OF MOTHERHOOD
In the pathbreaking tradition of Backlash and The Second Shift, this provocative book shows how mothers are systematically disadvantaged and made dependent by a society that exploits those who perform its most critical work. Drawing on hundreds of interviews and research in economics, history, child development, and law, Ann Crittenden proves definitively that although women have been liberated, mothers have not.
Bold, galvanizing, and full of innovative solutions, The Price of Motherhood was listed by the Chicago Tribune as one of the Top Ten Feminist Literary Works since the publication of Betty Friedan’s Feminine Mystique. T
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THIS is the book that belonged on the cover of TIME,
Forget Sylvia Ann Hewlett’s “Creating a Life” and the furor it has spawned with its encouragement that professional women marry and start their families early. THIS is the book that deserved a TIME magazine cover story, and the fact that Hewlett’s book has overshadowed Crittenden’s in publicity speaks volumes about our culture’s unwillingness to address the bottom line about motherhood. Quite simply, “The Price of Motherhood” answers all the questions about women’s reluctance to start families when they are younger and more reproductively healthy. Doing so puts them at a hugely greater risk for poverty, as Crittenden so painstakingly documents in this book. Our nation expects women to bear ALL the opportunity costs of motherhood, without providing any sort of support or safety net for those who undertake the public service of raising and educating the next generation of law-abiding, productive citizens. “The Price of Motherhood” provides the evidence to support what we all know to be true, on some level. Trust me — I’m the mother of a 4-year-old with another baby on the way, and even with my graduate degree, 15+ years of work experience and many professional accomplishments, I have been marginalized like you wouldn’t believe since I became a mom. The sad truth is that most women in the throes of childrearing are so exhausted and dependent that they probably will never band together to become the political force that will create the pressure necessary to change this sad reality. Kudos to Crittenden, whose son is nearly grown, for returning to this issue at this point in her life (she’s nearly 60) and taking a stand for the women and children — and the society — that will follow her.
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|An Excellent Resource for Everyone,
Ann Crittenden should be thanked for producing a book relevant to sociologists, women’s studies scholars, and mother’s everywhere. Her prose is readable; her scholarship exhaustive and convincing. Every married woman or mother (and often those who are both) has said to herself, “There’s something not fair here, I just can’t put my finger on it.” Well, Crittenden puts her finger on it! Corporate attitudes (from often “family friendly” companies), taxes, divorce law, and rotten child care all enter her gun sight as she explains the current situation, how we got here, and what we need to do TO MAKE IT FAIR. The answers are like the problems: complex and difficult to implement. That does not mean, however, that the solutions aren’t worth attempting – they are.
I especially enjoyed the author’s analysis of countries like Sweden and France and how they have handled issues surrounding parenting and work. The most interesting factor was the description from the member of Sweden’s “Father Commission” as to why Sweden adopted such liberal and finanically supportive policy for parents. It seems that at the time of widesweeping legislation offering financial support to new parents, Sweden was undergoing a shortage of labor. Rather than relying on the importation of labor, Sweden realized its greatest resource were Swedish women who faced obstacles to working when their children were young – unreliable child care, no guaranteed job when they returned to work, lack of flex time, etc. Sweden’s government decided to remove the obstacles, jack up financial support, offer great child care, and put in place crucial legislation encouraging parents (read “men and women”) to spend time with their kids. Result: happier women, men who know what its like to be a parent and get support at work for doing it, and happy babies living in a profitable economy. Go Sweden!
If there are any drawbacks to The Price of Motherhood, it’s that Crittenden has spent so much time with the topic (both researching it and personally experiencing it) that her bitterness occasionally seeps through in prose. I think her arguments might have been stronger in some instances if she had managed to root out the sarcasm or the repeated “It’s not fair…”. But she’s right. It isn’t fair. Read the book before voting!
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|Passionately argued,
I see that there are a number of folks who found this book not worthwhile at all. I’m sorry to see that so many of them are women. Crittenden, a former NEW YORK TIMES reporter and one-time Pulitzer Prize-nominee, knows whereof she speaks and writes. While the book is scholarly in tone and comes complete with copious footnotes, a vast bibliography, and so on, the passion in Crittenden’s voice comes through loud and clear. Fact: Women who stay home with their kids are at a disadvantage financially and in terms of power. Fact: Women who stay home with their kids are punished (or simply not given the same breaks) by a tax system which apparently assents to the existence only of paid workers. Fact: This is a worldwide problem, with worldwide implications. I could go on and on about this book, but the best recommendation I can give you is to READ IT IMMEDIATELY. I have bought half a dozen copies of the book, in hard cover, because I felt so strongly about the value of what Crittenden has to say. Every woman I’ve given it to has thanked me and pronounced it fascinating, eye-opening and important reading. Even if you are not a woman–or not even a parent–you will learn a great deal from this extremely fine book on a neglected topic. Don’t wait to read it yourself–get to it today!
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