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Women's Work
Women's Work: A Reckoning with Work and Home | Megan K. Stack
3 posts | 1 read | 13 to read
From National Book Award finalist Megan K. Stack, a stunning memoir of raising her children abroad with the help of Chinese and Indian women who are also working mothers When Megan Stack was living in Beijing, she left her prestigious job as a foreign correspondent to have her first child and work from home writing a book. She quickly realized that caring for a baby and keeping up with the housework while her husband went to the office each day was consuming the time she needed to write. This dilemma was resolved in the manner of many upper-class families and large corporations: she availed herself of cheap Chinese labor. The housekeeper Stack hired was a migrant from the countryside, a mother who had left her daughter in a precarious situation to earn desperately needed cash in the capital. As Stack's family grew and her husband's job took them to Dehli, a series of Chinese and Indian women cooked, cleaned, and babysat in her home. Stack grew increasingly aware of the brutal realities of their lives: domestic abuse, alcoholism, unplanned pregnancies. Hiring poor women had given her the ability to work while raising her children, but what ethical compromise had she made? Determined to confront the truth, Stack traveled to her employees' homes, met their parents and children, and turned a journalistic eye on the tradeoffs they'd been forced to make as working mothers seeking upward mobilityand on the cost to the children who were left behind. Women's Work is an unforgettable story of four women as well as an electrifying meditation on the evasions of marriage, motherhood, feminism, and privilege.
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EchoLogical
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The last paragraph really stuck with me because my husband argues this point when we talk about parenting. His favorite example is Lauryn Hill. I argue that it's her choice to make because despite what people like to say, I don't think you can have it all, all the time as a mother. Sorry, not sorry 🤷🏽‍♀️

Nute Stacked immediately!!! That hit home for me as well! 5y
SW-T I saw an interview between Ashley Judd & Madeleine Albright on Iconoclasts. Ashley said she made choices based on what was most important to her, because you couldn‘t do everything well. Something suffered if you tried to do it all and so many women struggled because society kept telling them they could do it all. Was refreshing to hear. 5y
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EchoLogical
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kspenmoll Yup. 5y
megnews Too true 5y
EchoLogical @kspenmoll @megnews I'm 10 mo postpartum with my 2nd and I'm still trying to figure it out. 😔 5y
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Bookgirl @EchoLogical I, too, struggled after my 2nd. It took going back to work part time to feel like myself again, although I loved being a SAHM to my first for over 3 years. Be patient and kind to yourself! 5y
SW-T You‘ll get there. Remember to ask for help if you need it. Practice self-care, be patient, and remember there‘s no roadmap you have to follow. 💕 5y
megnews Give yourself permission to not be perfect. Accept help when offered. Know you‘re not alone. That quote resonates with more women than probably care to admit it. (edited) 5y
EchoLogical @Bookgirl I was trying to stay home with my little guy for the first year but I officially started job hunting yesterday but I feel terrible about it. 5y
EchoLogical @SW-T @megnews Thank you both for the kind words. 5y
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EchoLogical
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Still reading the intro and it's already hitting close to home...

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