Angela Garbes is the author of the now-classic Like a Mother and her new book, which grew out of her New York Magazine cover story (about how the pandemic was disrupting women’s lives) went viral and was shared by everyone from Melinda Gates to Elizabeth Warren. Angela didn’t want to write another book about motherhood. But during the pandemic, when school and child care center shutdowns left her with nothing to do but mother, she witnessed all her frustrations and racing thoughts about the state of caregiving in America show up in newspapers, on the radio, and in Zoom conversations. During this time, many people came to understand—for the first time or with renewed urgency—that American life is not working for families.
Angela's next book, Essential Labor, maintains that mothering is not limited to the people who give birth to children; it is not defined by gender. While “mother” is an important identity for many women who still provide the majority of care to children in America, no one cares for children entirely on their own. The pandemic revealed that mothering is some of the only truly essential work humans do. Without people to care for our children, we are lost. Garbes explores our history of care and how we got to where we are today: a wealthy country with an invaluable work force of women, most of them brown and black, performing our most important work for free or at poverty wages.
Jess and Jess have so many questions for Angela- and she has answers....but in typical WeSTAT fashion, there are some incredibly vulnerable moments in this conversation as the three women explore what work is, what mothering is, and how we marry the two.
**Angela's book, Essential Labor, goes on sale May 10, 2022.
https://www.amazon.com/Essential-Labor-Mothering-Social-Change-ebook/dp/B09C64HQWW
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