Essential Labor

I, like Garbes, was a pandemic mom who lived through the brief moment in 2020 and 2001 when it seemed our culture was finally about to recognize that the world runs on unacknowledged work by women. Garbes writes from her experience as a mother of young kids and a descendant of mass migration of nurses out of the Philippines, to open a window into what a world that valued care work would look like.

I love how Garbes sees that giving care its due would require a radical, almost spiritual change, but also how the solutions she sees go beyond… show more.

Mothers often feel discouraged and undervalued, but what if we expanded the definition of what mothering actually means? What if caregiving, in all its forms, wasn’t just an afterthought but the most important work humans can do? Through combining research and personal stories, Angela Garbes is making a passionate plea for recognizing the value of caregiving in our society.

I’ve had read too many parenting guides that put the responsibility for how their children turned out on the parents. Angela Garbes’s book is different. It’s thought-provoking, well-researched, and beautifully written. Garbes is absolutely right: to make a better life for… show more.