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3.65 AVERAGE
3.65 AVERAGE
I found this memoir so powerful, raw and relatable, especially if you have ever lived overseas. The writing is beautiful and I appreciated Stack's honesty and unvarnished self-assessment.
It took me a while to get into the book. I went into it thinking it was equal parts reportage and memoir but in fact it's 90% memoir. Once I adjusted my expectations it became a quick and interesting read. She's fairly honest about her privilege and doesn't shy away from exposing her cringe worthy inner thoughts about and actions towards the women she employs. However, she never addresses how the book itself could be/is exploitative of these women and their stories. That strikes me as a glaring blind spot that had me feeling uncomfortable throughout. Despite that I would recommend it as it does touch upon the difficult truths around the grossly outsized amount of work that women do in society (a topic that isn't openly addressed enough) in an engaging way.
This book is definitely worth a read.
Feminism is a complex topic, and Stack doesn’t shy away from it. This book contains the struggle and conundrum Stack faces when she’s pregnant and in a new country and decides to take help from the domestic workers to help her through everything. Stack describes the struggle of motherhood without any qualms. Her idea of feminism is affected, when she has to take help of other women to raise her children. To go further in her career, she has to inexplicably take advantage of the cheap domestic labour available in countries like India and China. Does that make her less feminist? The growth in her career depends on these women. And she has to decide if she can sacrifice her ideals for her career.
Feminism is a complex topic, and Stack doesn’t shy away from it. This book contains the struggle and conundrum Stack faces when she’s pregnant and in a new country and decides to take help from the domestic workers to help her through everything. Stack describes the struggle of motherhood without any qualms. Her idea of feminism is affected, when she has to take help of other women to raise her children. To go further in her career, she has to inexplicably take advantage of the cheap domestic labour available in countries like India and China. Does that make her less feminist? The growth in her career depends on these women. And she has to decide if she can sacrifice her ideals for her career.
Really liked this book. Stack writes so well and I felt like the issues and thoughts she experienced were exactly what I would feel in the same experience. I loved the inside look at living abroad and what it was like to have home and childcare in Asian countries - as well as the inner contradiction Stack faced as she wanted to be a liberated woman free to work on her book... but dependent on other women who were taken advantage of by a struggling society.
One of those rare books I think EVERYONE should read, especially if you have or are thinking about having children.
Read my full review on my blog: https://ivoryowlreviews.blogspot.com/2019/04/review-womens-work-by-megan-k-stack.html
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Megan K. Stack and her husband traveled the globe as foreign correspondents. They worked the same hours, slept in the same hostels, interacted with the same contacts--on the whole, they were equals. When they start their family, her husband disappears back out into that "valued" working world while she stays home with their son (and plans to write a book). It is here that the avalanche of inequity begins. Realizing she can't just write while the baby sleeps (do women still believe this?), she employs local Chinese and Indian women to handle the child care, cooking, cleaning, shopping, and the endless list of tasks involved in running a household and raising a family. On the surface this arrangement looks mutually beneficial for all women involved, however, there are often numerous unseen/unspoken tradeoffs. Stack wonders "Who is caring for these workers' children while they care for my children?" and "Where are the lines drawn when you live with someone and they care for your family but they are not your family?" Obviously this book points out the privilege of situations where white foreigners can hire local help from underdeveloped communities in/near where they live, but Stack's openness about her guilt, confusion, and her daily accounts of the complicated relationships makes this less a story of the exploitation of cheap labor and more about why all "women's work" is so undervalued in the first place.
I'd recommend this as a follow-up to "Fed Up: Emotional Labor, Women, and the Way Forward" by Gemma Hartley and "Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive" by Stephanie Land.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Megan K. Stack and her husband traveled the globe as foreign correspondents. They worked the same hours, slept in the same hostels, interacted with the same contacts--on the whole, they were equals. When they start their family, her husband disappears back out into that "valued" working world while she stays home with their son (and plans to write a book). It is here that the avalanche of inequity begins. Realizing she can't just write while the baby sleeps (do women still believe this?), she employs local Chinese and Indian women to handle the child care, cooking, cleaning, shopping, and the endless list of tasks involved in running a household and raising a family. On the surface this arrangement looks mutually beneficial for all women involved, however, there are often numerous unseen/unspoken tradeoffs. Stack wonders "Who is caring for these workers' children while they care for my children?" and "Where are the lines drawn when you live with someone and they care for your family but they are not your family?" Obviously this book points out the privilege of situations where white foreigners can hire local help from underdeveloped communities in/near where they live, but Stack's openness about her guilt, confusion, and her daily accounts of the complicated relationships makes this less a story of the exploitation of cheap labor and more about why all "women's work" is so undervalued in the first place.
I'd recommend this as a follow-up to "Fed Up: Emotional Labor, Women, and the Way Forward" by Gemma Hartley and "Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive" by Stephanie Land.
For more check out my blog!
https://cicelyalexa.com/august-book-review-2019/
This is a book that I knew would both fascinate and frighten me. A lot of my closest friends are now married or on their way to being married. It seems like my favorite bloggers are having babies and have been married forever. Here I am, and honestly I haven’t really dated, which is fine. But I’ve been preparing myself for feeling left out and for being jealous for a while now because I knew this time in my life was coming. So here’s the thing that’s actually difficult to admit; I wasn’t prepared for the idea of being married and having kids to bring out a sense of existential panic in me. If I try to think about it for more than a hot second, I cannot deal.
Stack shares the good, the bad, and the ugly when it comes to not just motherhood, but in what happens when you outsource an already new and uncomfortable role. I believe this falls under the category of literary journalism, which is one of my favorite genres. While perspective is through her experiences, she is also able to take her personal self out of the equation at times and focus on what this system means for her employees and for the wider population of women across social classes and countries. It was a great look at how life differs so drastically, even just as an American with at least a middle class income, from country to country. And then even more so for the average woman in different countries. If you think income inequality is bad in American or the U.K., etc. this is a whole other level.
As a side note, there were so many I really dislike her husband. I know that in the grand scheme of things he wasn’t that bad and that it is all from her perspective, but it just goes to show how little concern is given for the concerns and tribulations of “lead” parents.
https://cicelyalexa.com/august-book-review-2019/
This is a book that I knew would both fascinate and frighten me. A lot of my closest friends are now married or on their way to being married. It seems like my favorite bloggers are having babies and have been married forever. Here I am, and honestly I haven’t really dated, which is fine. But I’ve been preparing myself for feeling left out and for being jealous for a while now because I knew this time in my life was coming. So here’s the thing that’s actually difficult to admit; I wasn’t prepared for the idea of being married and having kids to bring out a sense of existential panic in me. If I try to think about it for more than a hot second, I cannot deal.
Stack shares the good, the bad, and the ugly when it comes to not just motherhood, but in what happens when you outsource an already new and uncomfortable role. I believe this falls under the category of literary journalism, which is one of my favorite genres. While perspective is through her experiences, she is also able to take her personal self out of the equation at times and focus on what this system means for her employees and for the wider population of women across social classes and countries. It was a great look at how life differs so drastically, even just as an American with at least a middle class income, from country to country. And then even more so for the average woman in different countries. If you think income inequality is bad in American or the U.K., etc. this is a whole other level.
As a side note, there were so many I really dislike her husband. I know that in the grand scheme of things he wasn’t that bad and that it is all from her perspective, but it just goes to show how little concern is given for the concerns and tribulations of “lead” parents.
Beautiful, brilliant memoir that's a must-read for all working mothers.