Book Review

Despite my whining that life is really busy right now (and it is), I have had more time to do some "leisure" reading than I have in a long time, which is a treat to me and is some good brain exercise. I don't exactly recall how I learned of this book, but it's title grabbed me enough to make me pick it amongst 1000s of others on the shelf to take home and see what it was really all about in between the covers. It's titled "The Price of Motherhood: Why the Most Important Job in the World is Still the Least Valued" by Ann Crittenden (see why the title grabbed me?) Click here.

This is an interesting book as it appears it may be overly feminist (and though I've not studied any feminist theory in depth, I would not label myself as a feminist, though I certainly agree with fair treatment, etc). There is no way to avoid "feminism" in this book, but I would not label it as a feminist book. You see, it's about motherhood, and once you are a mom, feminism takes on a different perspective I think.

The most interesting thing I found in the book was a short history of women's roles and their positions in society related to being mothers. In some periods of time, there was power in that role, and later it was relegated into the lowest ranks of society. She also describes how the women's movement at one point had two paths they could follow. I will quote "The first argued that only one road could lead to female emancipation, and it pointed straight out of the house toward the world of paid work. The second sought equality for women within the family as well and challenged the idea that a wife and mother was inevitably an economic "dependent" of her husband... many women's advocates accepted the continued devaluation of motherhood, thereby guaranteeing that feminism would not resonate with millions of wives and mothers." (p. 63)

I am definitely a product of "today" in that women of my generation are trying to be a "liberated" woman and yet a mother at the same time. And a large part of my generation's struggle is trying to keep the house afloat financially yet care for their family. This book goes into a lot of numbers... the wage gap between working women and working mothers, the HUGE and multiple benefits that are lost for any time off paid work, and the financial tragedies and injustices of broken marriages to the women and their children. But it also offers many innovative solutions and examples of how other places do better to combine income earning and family.

If you are of today's generation, you should read this book. I am still digesting much of it, but it shed much light on some topics I hope to never experience personally, but that are still important and most (if not all) still affect me. Her greatest cry was for solidarity amongst women, rather than division over issues (which is far more common) for the greater good of all of us and our daughters.