Description
Book SynopsisA cross-national account of working mothers' daily lives--and the revolution in public policy and culture needed to improve them.
Trade Review"Co-Winner of the William J. Goode Book Award, Family Section of the American Sociological Association"
"Winner of the PROSE Award in Anthropology, Criminology, and Sociology, Association of American Publishers"
"Winner of the Bronze Medal in Women / Minorities in Business, Axiom Business Book Awards"
"Ultimately, this book is a rallying cry to value ‘caregiving, as well as the people who provide that care’."
---Emma Jacobs, Financial Times"Collins, a sociology professor, draws on interviews with working mothers in four different countries in this evenhanded, discerning exploration of work-family balance. Organizing her research by country, Collins finds that balance requires a harmonious confluence of workplace accommodations, government policies, and supportive cultural attitudes. . . . Collins suggests that policies must be passed in packages, rather than piecemeal—for example, making sure that daycare is available for children at the age when parental leave ends—to be most useful. This study, whose comparative approach illuminates how cultural norms affect policies and economic results, is intelligent, thought-provoking, and clarifying." * Publishers Weekly, starred review *
"
Making Motherhood Work . . . surveys the state of affairs in Sweden (long heralded as a bastion of gender equality and a paradise for working moms); the former East Germany (where you see vestiges of a communist system that encouraged mothers to work); western Germany (where culture hasn’t caught up with pro-mom policies); Italy (where women seem supported by family and the state but don’t feel that way) and the United States (where because we get the least organizational and governmental help, we are 'drowning in stress'). . . . Collins’s theme is that, while progressive policies can improve the lives of working mothers, cultural beliefs and narratives must move in tandem. And lawmakers and organizations must beware of unintended consequences; for example, long maternity leaves are nice but also reinforce the idea that women should be primary caregivers."
---Allison Beard, Harvard Business Review
