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A review by curlypip
Women's Work: A Reckoning with Work and Home by Megan K. Stack
3.0
This is much more of a personal memoir and much less of a journalistic expose than I expected from the blurb or articles I’d seen. It’s an easy read, and engaging.
But. It’s incredibly difficult to use very personal experiences as a medium for telling a universal story well, and I’m not sure this succeeds. At times it’s very relatable, but at others it’s very cringeworthy, being told from a place of unappreciated or unrecognized privilege.
Having lived in China and employed ayis myself, I can definitely understand some of the dilemmas she faces. Having read this book after the double whammy of reducing our ayi’s hours and finding her replacement work AND being at home constantly with two rambunctious kids and no help because of school closures due to COVID-19, even more so.
Perhaps because employing another woman to help in your home is such a personal thing to do, regardless of whether you treat them like family or like no more than an employee, I don’t feel like I’ve been particularly enlightened by the read. It was an interesting read that will likely create interesting discussions at book group, but it wasn’t the revelation I thought it would be.
But. It’s incredibly difficult to use very personal experiences as a medium for telling a universal story well, and I’m not sure this succeeds. At times it’s very relatable, but at others it’s very cringeworthy, being told from a place of unappreciated or unrecognized privilege.
Having lived in China and employed ayis myself, I can definitely understand some of the dilemmas she faces. Having read this book after the double whammy of reducing our ayi’s hours and finding her replacement work AND being at home constantly with two rambunctious kids and no help because of school closures due to COVID-19, even more so.
Perhaps because employing another woman to help in your home is such a personal thing to do, regardless of whether you treat them like family or like no more than an employee, I don’t feel like I’ve been particularly enlightened by the read. It was an interesting read that will likely create interesting discussions at book group, but it wasn’t the revelation I thought it would be.