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A Woman's Work

By Elinor Cleghorn

Product Image: A Woman's Work

A Woman's Work

By Elinor Cleghorn

- Default Title
Description
The first comprehensive history of mothers and mothering from antiquity to today, by the acclaimed author of UNWELL WOMEN 'An essential history' LEAH HAZARD 'A perfectly timed and illuminating triumph' LINDSEY FITZHARRIS 'This is the book we need right now . . . powerful and astonishing' MARIANNE LEVY 'Thoughtful, smart, and, sadly, really bloody urgent' CLAIRE LYNCH Mothers make history. For centuries, motherhood has sparked social and political change. Yet the acts of growing, birthing and nurturing children - and the power they hold - have been pushed to the margins, overlooked in our narratives of the past. In A Woman's Work, Elinor Cleghorn reveals the mothers, othermothers, midwives, activists, and community leaders who have shaped this extraordinary history. They include Hildegard of Bingen, the medieval nun and mystic with pioneering views about the maternal body; Mary Wollstonecraft, who laid the intellectual groundwork to release motherhood from male control; and Sojourner Truth, who drew attention to the abhorrent treatment of mothers under chattel slavery. Beginning in the ancient world, we learn how in each era, the patriarchy constructed its own idealised notion of motherhood - from the misogynistic dogma of the early church and the stigmatisation of single mothers in 17th century England all the way through to the post-war myth of the perfectly contented housewife. But we also learn how mothers of all classes and circumstances fought back, and lobbied to be valued, respected and supported - not as reproductive vessels, but as people. A Woman's Work is a radical and inspiring new history of mothering, and a timely reminder that the fight for reproductive freedom is far from over.
Product details
Binding:
Paperback
Edition:
1
Number of Pages:
416
Release Date:
2026-03-12
Publication Date:
2026-03-12
Publisher:
Orion Publishing Group
Languages:
Original: English
ISBN10:
1399605437
ISBN13:
9781399605434
GPSR Manufacturer Reference:
[email protected]
Weight:
510 g
Height:
155 cm
Width:
234 cm
Thickness:
35 cm
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